Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. Sells 8,000 Shares

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $104.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.03. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released 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 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%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -58.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.41.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Crown Castle by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $95,167,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.