ProShare Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 109,780 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,681 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $11,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $523,773,000 after acquiring an additional 632,398 shares in the last quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 0.9% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $98,570,000 after acquiring an additional 8,136 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth about $4,425,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 8,611.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 703,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,006,000 after buying an additional 695,163 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:CCI opened at $105.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The business’s 50 day moving average is $99.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.26. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.50. The company has a market cap of $45.89 billion, a PE ratio of 33.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Argus lowered Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.38.

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.