Commerce Bank Cuts Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 17.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,343 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 15,848 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $7,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $27,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 164.0% during the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $99.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.34 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $98.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.67.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.28%. 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.