Metis Global Partners LLC Sells 4,075 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Metis Global Partners LLC decreased its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,075 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 5,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 8.8% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the period. Castleview Partners LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 63.5% in the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 937 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 154,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,252,000 after acquiring an additional 12,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,380,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CCI. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.29.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $97.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.56.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Crown Castle Company 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.