Raymond James & Associates Sells 3,124 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Raymond James & Associates cut its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 767,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,124 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.18% of Crown Castle worth $91,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 13.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4.4% during the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% during the third quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of CCI opened at $112.38 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.85 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $114.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

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.