LRT Capital Management LLC Buys 2,392 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

LRT Capital Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares during the quarter. LRT Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Crown Castle by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,475 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Argus raised shares of Crown Castle to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE:CCI opened at $105.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.72 billion, a P/E 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 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.77.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for 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 business’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given 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 presently -58.18%.

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.