Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Cuts Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. decreased its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 12.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4.0% during the first quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.3% during the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 2,259 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 41.5% during the first quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price objective (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:CCI traded down $2.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $110.85. The company had a trading volume of 785,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,651,392. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $119.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $104.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $48.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.97 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

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.