Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 192 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 192 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,990,991,000 after purchasing an additional 673,243 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,310,559,000 after acquiring an additional 834,198 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,297,147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126,394 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $523,773,000 after acquiring an additional 632,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.7% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,333,000 after acquiring an additional 391,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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 target price on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America increased their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of CCI opened at $115.17 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $111.35 and its 200 day moving average is $104.09. The company has a market capitalization of $50.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.99 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

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

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.