Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Sells 1,624 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lessened its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 87,556 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,624 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $9,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,119,225,000 after buying an additional 228,007 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $561,714,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $557,662,000 after buying an additional 58,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $525,849,000 after buying an additional 1,573,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president owned 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $105.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.94.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE:CCI opened at $111.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $48.60 billion, a PE ratio of -10.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $102.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.56.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.02. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

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.