Principal Securities Inc. Sells 5,315 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Principal Securities Inc. trimmed its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 38.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,343 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,315 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after acquiring an additional 747,390 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,079,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,186 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,105,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,434,229,000 after purchasing an additional 151,990 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 7.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $613,900,000 after purchasing an additional 348,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,592,000 after purchasing an additional 203,442 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CCI. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upgraded Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $128.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.75.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $91.29 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $39.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.85 and a 200 day moving average of $103.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

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.