Sara Bay Financial Sells 431 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sara Bay Financial lessened its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,163 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 431 shares during the quarter. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,990,991,000 after purchasing an additional 673,243 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after acquiring an additional 834,198 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126,394 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,478,477 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $625,975,000 after acquiring an additional 122,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $581,503,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $109.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,542,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,718,548. The company has a market capitalization of $47.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40 and a beta of 0.83. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $119.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $103.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.89.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 195.63%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America increased their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

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.