Aristotle Capital Management LLC Sells 141,466 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Aristotle Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,411,890 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 141,466 shares during the quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.48% of Crown Castle worth $730,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Union Savings Bank bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter worth about $28,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 169.5% in the 2nd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 318 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CCI. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Crown Castle from $151.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank began coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, October 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $138.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.50.

View Our Latest Research Report on Crown Castle

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $118.40. 564,953 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,803,445. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.35 billion, a PE ratio of 32.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $97.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.78. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $153.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.44.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($1.08). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.85% and a net margin of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 174.86%.

Crown Castle Company Profile

(Free Report)

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 85,000 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.

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