499,644 Shares in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Purchased by Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 499,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $45,348,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Crown Castle by 5.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of CCI opened at $100.55 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $101.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.66 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

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 (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 net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.