Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Sells 928 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,851 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 928 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.1% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 17,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth $377,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Crown Castle by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,518,000 after acquiring an additional 67,072 shares in the last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,635,000. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1,198.7% in the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 30,363 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,966,000 after acquiring an additional 28,025 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.40.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.5 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $111.48 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $113.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.55. The company has a market capitalization of $48.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $120.92. 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 (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

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.