Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,789 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,783,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $188,698,000 after purchasing an additional 95,711 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,384,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 818,811 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,655,000 after purchasing an additional 279,508 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.9 %

Crown Castle stock traded up $1.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $107.52. 1,631,832 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,465,425. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $119.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $99.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.81. The company has a market cap of $46.72 billion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 EPS. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.82%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price objective (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.88.

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.