Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Kennebec Savings Bank

Kennebec Savings Bank reduced its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 70.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,368 shares during the quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $151,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Crown Castle by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,475 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. grew its position 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 period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,526 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,057,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $98.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.10 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $101.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.09. 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 (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on CCI. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JMP Securities raised their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on 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 target price for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.71.

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.