M&G PLC Trims Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

M&G PLC lessened its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 51.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 973,418 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,046,197 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $100,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 10,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 47.8% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 5.6% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 1.8% during the first quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Up 2.7%

CCI opened at $94.34 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $115.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.90. The firm has a market cap of $41.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.94.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 619.62% and a negative net margin of 95.37%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.230-4.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $114.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $120.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.08, for a total value of $2,942,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,431,203.68. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.