Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,207,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 26,311 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.51% of Crown Castle worth $213,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Country Club Bank lifted its position in Crown Castle by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 70,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,808,000 after buying an additional 11,851 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,419,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $233,413,000 after buying an additional 138,061 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,578,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 213.8% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 11,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 7,598 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3,051.5% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,472,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $562,221,000 after purchasing an additional 5,299,155 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:CCI opened at $86.82 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $83.21 and a 12-month high of $115.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $88.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.67.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -39.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CCI shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $101.00 price objective (down previously from $104.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th. New Street Research lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Crown Castle Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.