Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $660,000 Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 34.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,789 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after buying an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,119,225,000 after purchasing an additional 228,007 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Crown Castle by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $557,662,000 after purchasing an additional 58,903 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.41.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $105.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.72 billion, a PE ratio of 37.23 and a beta of 0.93. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The business’s 50 day moving average is $101.47 and its 200-day moving average is $97.95.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is -58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.