State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 400 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

State of Michigan Retirement System lowered its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 117,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $10,705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 13.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,071 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,476,000 after acquiring an additional 31,319 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 135,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,104,000 after acquiring an additional 19,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 183,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $21,769,000 after acquiring an additional 11,328 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $118.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $128.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.75.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE CCI opened at $94.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $90.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 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.