KCM Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,531 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,760 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $16,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Crown Castle by 191.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,644 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,536 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $103.07. The company had a trading volume of 189,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,594,401. The company has a market capitalization of $44.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.48 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $112.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.38.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.07%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

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.