Rafferty Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,191 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,580 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $5,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $95,167,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI opened at $102.30 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $101.78 and its 200-day moving average is $97.56. The stock has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a PE ratio of 36.28 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -58.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.41.

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.