Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Trims Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC cut its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 45.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,750 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Investors Research Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $103.20 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.12.

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.