Stephens Inc. AR Lowers Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Stephens Inc. AR lessened its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 40.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 30,624 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Crown Castle by 2.8% in the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 127,542 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,474 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at approximately $431,000. Applied Capital LLC FL raised its stake in Crown Castle by 23.9% in the first quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 15,131 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 2,917 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 23.7% during the first quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 12,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 17.0% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 77,631 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,091,000 after purchasing an additional 11,263 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. New Street Research upgraded Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.06.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $103.21 on Tuesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of -9.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $101.22 and its 200 day moving average is $97.47.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.06 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -39.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 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.