Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by MCF Advisors LLC

MCF Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,070 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 117 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 673,243 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 7.9% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 834,198 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 11.1% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $581,503,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $523,773,000 after buying an additional 632,398 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $113.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.59 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.38. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $119.50.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. 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 report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average 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.