Ethic Inc. Cuts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Ethic Inc. reduced its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 48,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 12,856 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 591.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $431,418,000 after acquiring an additional 3,824,778 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 422.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $318,258,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895,756 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 33.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,291 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $121,726,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 42.3% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,931,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $379,327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168,132 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. This represents a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE CCI opened at $90.55 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $39.52 billion, a PE ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.99. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.96 and a 52 week high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.42 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 175.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $114.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.39.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.