Cetera Investment Advisers Lowers Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Cetera Investment Advisers lessened its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 112,131 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,178 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Crown Castle were worth $10,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $5,672,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% during the 4th 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 raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,119,225,000 after acquiring an additional 228,007 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 58,903 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CCI. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.41.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE:CCI opened at $105.00 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.23 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $101.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle 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.