Crown Castle Inc. $CCI Stock: Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Cuts Stake

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 772,637 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 31,585 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $51,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the second quarter worth about $13,219,000. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $68,627,000. Saudi Central Bank lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 89.9% during the 2nd quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 30,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,312,000 after buying an additional 14,451 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $168,855,000. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 674,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,089,000 after buying an additional 50,772 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Crown Castle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 price target on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.27.

Crown Castle Trading Up 6.5%

Crown Castle stock opened at $92.20 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.23 billion, a PE ratio of 48.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.32 and a 1-year high of $95.07.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.12% and a negative return on equity of 42.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.40 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle Inc (NYSE: CCI) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and leases communications infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.

The company’s infrastructure has historically included approximately 40,000 cell towers, about 90,000 route miles of fiber and a large portfolio of small-cell installations.