Crown Castle Inc. $CCI Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 10.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 391,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 45,019 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $26,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,219,000. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth about $68,627,000. Saudi Central Bank increased its stake in Crown Castle by 89.9% in the 2nd quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 30,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,312,000 after purchasing an additional 14,451 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth about $168,855,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 674,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,089,000 after buying an additional 50,772 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CCI shares. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $85.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, September 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Collins sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.87, for a total transaction of $222,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $232,217.31. This trade represents a 48.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $89.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $37.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.30. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.32 and a 12 month high of $95.07.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $995.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.12% and a negative return on equity of 42.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. Analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 223.68%.

Crown Castle Profile

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE: CCI) owns and operates wireless communications infrastructure in the United States. Its portfolio includes cell towers and small-cell networks that help wireless carriers expand coverage and capacity. The company leases space on its infrastructure to wireless carriers and other customers, allowing multiple users to deploy communications equipment on shared sites. Crown Castle has also operated fiber infrastructure and related services, which support small-cell networks and other connectivity needs.