Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Independence Bank of Kentucky

Independence Bank of Kentucky trimmed its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 21.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 164.0% in the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 126.1% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $97.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,395,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,492,467. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $42.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $98.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.74.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.41%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CCI. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price objective (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.21.

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.