Wealth Alliance LLC Acquires New Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Wealth Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,657 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,119,225,000 after buying an additional 228,007 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $557,662,000 after buying an additional 58,903 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of Crown Castle 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 sale, the vice president owned 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm'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 owned 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $106.41 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $46.34 billion, a PE ratio of -9.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day moving average of $101.14 and a 200 day moving average of $97.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 164.40% and a negative net margin of 78.12%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on CCI. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $113.38.

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.

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