Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 203,492 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 29,867 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $21,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 164.0% during the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

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 stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of CCI stock traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $108.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,049,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,763,578. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $119.50. The company has a market capitalization of $47.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.74 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.77%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective 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. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.88.

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.