Herold Advisors Inc. Sells 547 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Herold Advisors Inc. cut its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Crown Castle by 42.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 217.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,058,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $281,439,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,272 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 21.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $932,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818,910 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 14.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,098,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496,330 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Crown Castle by 8.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $93.57. The company had a trading volume of 2,697,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,845,581. The company has a market capitalization of $40.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $103.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.25. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $123.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.29.

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.