Voloridge Investment Management LLC Purchases New Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 62,989 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $5,717,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE CCI traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $100.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,068,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,884,744. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.51 and a beta of 0.93. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $101.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.24. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 over the last quarter. 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.