Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Kesler Norman & Wride LLC

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 57.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,134 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,267 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 164.0% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 126.1% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented 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 on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped 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. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded down $1.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $95.44. 173,047 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,819,452. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $119.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.22. The company has a market cap of $41.47 billion, a PE ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.56%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

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.