Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) VP Robert Sean Collins Sells 2,500 Shares of Stock

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) VP Robert Collins sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.87, for a total transaction of $222,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,217.31. The trade was a 48.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI opened at $89.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $77.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.29. The firm has a market cap of $38.00 billion, a PE ratio of 47.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.32 and a twelve month high of $95.07.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 42.11% and a net margin of 20.12%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.40 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 223.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,326,154,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,023,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,743,562,000 after acquiring an additional 211,633 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,463,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,094,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828,065 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,325,747 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $514,320,000 after acquiring an additional 144,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $456,897,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE: CCI) owns and operates wireless communications infrastructure in the United States. Its portfolio includes cell towers and small-cell networks that help wireless carriers expand coverage and capacity. The company leases space on its infrastructure to wireless carriers and other customers, allowing multiple users to deploy communications equipment on shared sites. Crown Castle has also operated fiber infrastructure and related services, which support small-cell networks and other connectivity needs.