Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 546,623 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $64,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 2.4% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4.4% during the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,899,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.00.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CCI opened at $90.66 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $104.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $89.64 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

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.