Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stock Position Cut by USS Investment Management Ltd

USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,597 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 20,022 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $7,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,717,000. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $2,773,000. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 233.3% in the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 65,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,899,000 after purchasing an additional 45,500 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $6,334,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. UBS Group upgraded Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $100.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 518,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,872,761. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $101.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.28. The firm has a market cap of $43.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.71 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its 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). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The business's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.50%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 in the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle 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.