Stephens Inc. AR Trims Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,141 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 87,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,630 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 49.3% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 10,913 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,603 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $89.91 on Tuesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $75.96 and a one year high of $115.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $85.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 175.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $114.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.52.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.