Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Sells 153 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. cut its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,825 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,203,648,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,382 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 14.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,098,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496,330 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 21.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $932,682,000 after buying an additional 1,818,910 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 42.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after buying an additional 2,121,603 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 2.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $512,467,000 after buying an additional 155,543 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.29.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CCI traded up $0.95 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $97.39. The company had a trading volume of 4,119,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,351,464. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $119.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.30. The firm has a market cap of $42.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Crown Castle Company 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.