Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 208,819 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 32.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 431,582 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 208,819 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $49,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,603 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 217.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,058,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $281,439,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,272 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 21.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $932,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,818,910 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 14.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496,330 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,382 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $93.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The company has a market cap of $40.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $123.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $103.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.25.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.29.

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.