Lincoln National Corp Sells 137 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Lincoln National Corp decreased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,605 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 137 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Argent Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3.3% during the first quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 12,183 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 9.7% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,462 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Toroso Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 29.0% during the first quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 61,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,226,000 after acquiring an additional 13,803 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.7% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 13,708 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,835,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3.8% during the second quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 20,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.27% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.3 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $97.13 on Tuesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $153.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($1.08). Crown Castle had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 21.85%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.85 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 174.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CCI. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $138.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 17th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $137.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, October 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from C$113.00 to C$106.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.56.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 85,000 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.