Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Sawyer & Company Inc

Sawyer & Company Inc cut its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,154 shares during the quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,102 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,557 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,231,000. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:CCI opened at $86.61 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.81. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $37.64 billion, a PE ratio of 30.71 and a beta of 0.87.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $104.00 in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.00.

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.