Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,317 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,253 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 25.6% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 8,346 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,804,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 517,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,816,000 after buying an additional 91,404 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 64.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 627,544 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $66,402,000 after buying an additional 246,043 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $106.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market capitalization of $46.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.79 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.48 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.74.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.87%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CCI. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

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.