Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. Trims Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $60,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 4.2% during the third quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,899,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC now owns 5,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $658,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 542 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $90.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.67. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week 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 released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.90%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.00.

Crown Castle 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.