Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank lessened its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 27.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,191 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 34,902 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $10,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Services Automobile Association raised its stake in Crown Castle by 23.1% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 13,411 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,516 shares during the period. Court Place Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 117,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,852,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 8,611.0% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 703,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $81,006,000 after buying an additional 695,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Group LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $5,005,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CCI. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.64.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:CCI traded down $0.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $98.12. 2,094,891 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,960,441. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $99.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.21. The firm has a market cap of $42.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.66, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.76. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $119.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.38%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.63%.

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.