Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stake Lessened by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC lessened its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 39.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 439,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 285,415 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $42,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. Provident Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 14.2% during the second quarter. Provident Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,880 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden increased its stake in Crown Castle by 16.5% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 133,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,043,000 after purchasing an additional 18,900 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 3.8% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 202,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,804,000 after purchasing an additional 7,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 17.6% during the second quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 6,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, 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. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $118.85 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.65 billion, a PE ratio of 37.14 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $109.77 and its 200-day moving average is $103.78.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Crown Castle 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.