Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,902 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $13,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 107.9% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 159.0% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group upped their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $106.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $46.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.83 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $109.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.98. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $92.48 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

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.