ClearBridge Investments Ltd Cuts Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

ClearBridge Investments Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,552,959 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 79,896 shares during the period. Crown Castle makes up 7.3% of ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. ClearBridge Investments Ltd owned about 0.59% of Crown Castle worth $249,424,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after buying an additional 2,464,094 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at about $221,573,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 18,200.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,651,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,432 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 191.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $115.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.04 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

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.