TCW Group Inc. Sells 22,108 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Key Points

• TCW Group Inc. has reduced its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. by 42.8%, selling 22,108 shares during the 1st quarter, leaving it with 29,598 shares valued at approximately $3.08 million.
• Analysts have recently upgraded Crown Castle's target prices, with Citigroup raising it from $108.00 to $124.00, while Wells Fargo increased its target from $105.00 to $125.00.
• Crown Castle reported $1.02 earnings per share for the last quarter, beating estimates, but experienced a 4.2% decline in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.

TCW Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 42.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,598 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 22,108 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 62.1% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Thursday. New Street Research upgraded Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $124.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $115.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $111.60 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $48.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.46, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $102.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.63. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.02. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 619.62% and a negative net margin of 85.54%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.83%.

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.

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