Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) VP Sells 3,000 Shares

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded up $3.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $89.54. The company had a trading volume of 6,837,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,648,866. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $77.01 and a one year high of $115.76. The firm has a market cap of $39.05 billion, a PE ratio of 88.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.96.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 420.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research lowered Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $96.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.02.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 124.2% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,034,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445,237 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 591.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $431,418,000 after buying an additional 3,824,778 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 422.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $318,258,000 after buying an additional 2,895,756 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.