Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,006,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 164,923 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.23% of Crown Castle worth $98,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CCI. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 16.2% during 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 buying an additional 632,398 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 0.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $98,570,000 after purchasing an additional 8,136 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth about $4,425,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,789,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $115.30 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $111.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.11. The firm has a market cap of $50.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.03 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on CCI shares. Bank of America increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.