Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 881 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 881 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 78.8% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $567,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $581,503,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Crown Castle by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 329,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,010,000 after buying an additional 26,880 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock opened at $118.85 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $120.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $109.77 and its 200-day moving average is $103.78. The company has a market cap of $51.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.14 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.