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

Norway Savings Bank reduced its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Stonegate Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.4% during the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 23,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,419,000 after buying an additional 2,384 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 41.4% during the first quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 11,636 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,213,000 after buying an additional 3,408 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 19.8% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 25.8% during the first quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 1,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 13.8% during the first quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,266 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CCI shares. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Argus raised shares of Crown Castle to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.7%

CCI opened at $100.09 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $101.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.30, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.88.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its 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). Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 78.12% and a negative return on equity of 164.40%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.50%.

Crown Castle 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.