Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 1,216 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,216 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.2% in the 1st 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 during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after buying an additional 834,198 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126,394 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 16.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock traded down $2.81 during trading on Friday, hitting $111.48. 3,314,710 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,569,105. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price 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. Bank of America raised their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.40.

Crown Castle 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.