New England Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

New England Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,700 shares during the period. New England Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $5,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 164.0% in the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 126.1% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Argus lowered Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.64.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI traded down $0.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $99.67. The stock had a trading volume of 2,303,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,815,343. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $98.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.28. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.50.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 195.63%.

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.