Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Decreases Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its Crown Castle stake by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 34,565 shares and ending with 1,432,614 shares valued at about $127.3 million.
• Crown Castle’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.47 consensus and revenue of $1.01 billion, though revenue was still down 4.9% from a year earlier.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: several firms cut price targets and one downgraded the stock to sell, while the overall consensus remains a “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $99.39.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,432,614 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 34,565 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.33% of Crown Castle worth $127,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 269.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $114.00 to $94.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "hold" rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $99.39.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.7%

Crown Castle stock opened at $87.16 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $115.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.69.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is 175.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 5,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $507,442. This trade represents a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company's assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.