Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Cuts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 68,683 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,632 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $7,826,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 12.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,066,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,150,340,000 after buying an additional 1,776,989 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,343,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,538,658,000 after buying an additional 203,085 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 5.2% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,200,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,231,401,000 after buying an additional 457,468 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,046,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,208,030,000 after buying an additional 118,306 shares during the period. Finally, Aristotle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.2% in the first quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 6,553,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $877,101,000 after buying an additional 78,928 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.27% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $101.37 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $43.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $93.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $153.98.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 174.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $140.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 17th. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, October 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $137.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.56.

Crown Castle 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.