Royal Bank of Canada Has $374.84 Million Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Royal Bank of Canada cut its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,130,040 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 650,834 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.95% of Crown Castle worth $374,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $102.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.55 billion, a PE ratio of 36.28 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50-day moving average is $101.78 and its 200-day moving average is $97.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently -58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, New Street Research upgraded Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Twelve investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.41.

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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