Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Lowers Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 483 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $581,503,000. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at $221,573,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $201,582,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18,200.7% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,651,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 68,262.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after buying an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI traded down $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $111.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 390,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,643,970. The company has a market capitalization of $48.52 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11 and a beta of 0.83. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $119.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $105.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.12.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

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.