Financial Counselors Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Financial Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 139,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,247 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $16,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 163.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in Crown Castle by 107.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CCI. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE CCI opened at $106.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $46.37 billion, a PE ratio of 37.83 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.48 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $109.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

About Crown Castle

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.