Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BOKF NA raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $98,570,000 after buying an additional 8,136 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 8,346 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,804,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 517,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,816,000 after purchasing an additional 91,404 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $111.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $114.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.30. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.49 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $48.42 billion, a PE ratio of 39.51 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle 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.