Xponance Inc. Sells 5,314 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Xponance Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 67,194 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,314 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $6,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,990,991,000 after buying an additional 673,243 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,310,559,000 after purchasing an additional 834,198 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,297,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 632,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,333,000 after purchasing an additional 391,127 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.33.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $117.42 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $112.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.07. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap of $51.03 billion, a PE ratio of 36.69 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.