LPL Financial LLC Cuts Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

LPL Financial LLC lessened its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 39.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 439,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 285,415 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.10% of Crown Castle worth $42,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $581,503,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 2,464,094 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at about $221,573,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,642,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 95.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of CCI stock opened at $118.85 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.14 and a beta of 0.85. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $120.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $109.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.78.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Twelve equities research 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 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.53.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.