Sone Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 69,786 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $6,334,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $95,167,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $102.30 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.28 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -58.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.41.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.