Rossby Financial LCC Takes Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,167,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owned 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of CCI opened at $102.92 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $44.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $101.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.84.

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

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.50%.

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.