Centaurus Financial Inc. Sells 502 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Centaurus Financial Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 14.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 502 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $603,518,000 after acquiring an additional 67,072 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,002,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $593,498,000 after purchasing an additional 237,730 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Crown Castle by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,333,000 after purchasing an additional 391,127 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 95.8% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after buying an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE CCI opened at $106.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.20 billion, a PE ratio of 37.69 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $110.06 and its 200 day moving average is $106.98. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.48 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 221.99%.

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.