Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Hantz Financial Services Inc.

Hantz Financial Services Inc. lowered its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,526 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 529 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 24.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,476,000 after buying an additional 31,319 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3,111.6% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 13,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 12,913 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,059,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $125,665,000 after purchasing an additional 77,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2,706.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 105,563 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,523,000 after purchasing an additional 101,801 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $106.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $109.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.07. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.48 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $46.18 billion, a PE ratio of 37.68 and a beta of 0.86.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.89%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

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.