KCM Investment Advisors LLC Sells 3,071 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 144,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,071 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $14,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth about $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 164.0% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $112.01. 3,510,933 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,662,651. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00 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.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.59%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

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.