Bristlecone Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Bristlecone Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,102 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 182 shares during the quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 263,196 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,620,000 after purchasing an additional 57,064 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 223,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,573,000 after acquiring an additional 14,234 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 11,563 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,372,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 592.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 26,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,180,000 after acquiring an additional 22,941 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.47.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $108.91 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $114.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.48. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $87.38 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $47.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.62 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid 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 dividend yield of 5.75%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

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.