Park Avenue Securities LLC Lowers Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,216 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE CCI traded down $2.81 during trading on Friday, hitting $111.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,314,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,569,105. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $48.45 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.55.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.40.

About Crown Castle

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.