Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Has $195,000 Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. decreased its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter worth about $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 164.0% in the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded down $2.64 on Thursday, hitting $110.85. The stock had a trading volume of 785,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,651,392. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.50. The stock has a market cap of $48.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.04.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The business’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.