Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 159.0% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price 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. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $108.91 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a market cap of $47.32 billion, a PE ratio of 34.03 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.38 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.75%. 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.