HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 10,505 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 129,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 10,505 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $13,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,532 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $666,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Crown Castle by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,357 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,894,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup upped 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. New Street Research raised shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.24.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $101.61 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The business’s 50-day moving average is $103.56 and its 200-day moving average is $100.27. The company has a market capitalization of $44.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 619.62% and a negative net margin of 85.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is -39.83%.

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.