Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Sigma Planning Corp

Sigma Planning Corp reduced its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,503 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,476,000 after acquiring an additional 31,319 shares during the period. BOKF NA raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 25.6% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 30.4% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 8,346 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 517,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,816,000 after purchasing an additional 91,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 91,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,902,000 after purchasing an additional 17,529 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $102.29 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $92.48 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $44.46 billion, a PE ratio of 36.27 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $112.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.37.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.12%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

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.