New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $75.06 Million Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 651,578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 50,958 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.15% of Crown Castle worth $75,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Crown Castle by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,520,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $290,324,000 after acquiring an additional 27,323 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 19,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,221,000 after buying an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 62,003 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,142,000 after buying an additional 31,717 shares during the period. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 19,530 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,250,000 after buying an additional 1,877 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $95.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $104.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $128.27.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.56%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. Barclays lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank cut their target price on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.29.

About Crown Castle

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.