Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 63.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,628 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA lifted its position in Crown Castle by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Crown Castle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $95.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $104.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.37. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $128.27.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.57.

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.