Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 6,628 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 63.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,628 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 4.2% in the third quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.57.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:CCI opened at $95.08 on Tuesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $128.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $104.62 and its 200 day moving average is $105.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.