LRT Capital Management LLC Purchases 2,392 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

LRT Capital Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,725 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares during the period. LRT Capital Management LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versor Investments LP boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,608 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $1,231,000. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $3,083,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,139,000 after acquiring an additional 4,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 84,925 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,708,000 after acquiring an additional 13,623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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, UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.41.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI traded up $2.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $100.71. 2,455,225 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,880,809. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $101.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.71. The firm has a market cap of $43.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.71 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is presently -58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This 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 valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Crown Castle

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.