Verity & Verity LLC Trims Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Verity & Verity LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 92,472 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,200 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $9,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted 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. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $119.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.23 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $113.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.35.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

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 5.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 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.