Sunbelt Securities Inc. Boosts Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 108.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,770 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $613,900,000 after buying an additional 348,296 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at $328,000. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 7,022 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,675 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded down $0.98 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $99.57. 1,901,219 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,877,625. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $101.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.31 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.50%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service - bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.