American Century Companies Inc. Sells 85,339 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 31.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 187,922 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 85,339 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $18,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $523,773,000 after buying an additional 632,398 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $98,570,000 after purchasing an additional 8,136 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at $4,425,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:CCI opened at $115.30 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.11.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.43%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America raised their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.