Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,914 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 402,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,914 shares during the period. Crown Castle accounts for 0.7% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned 0.09% of Crown Castle worth $39,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 164.0% in the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $112.02. The stock had a trading volume of 3,511,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,662,651. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.50. The firm has a market cap of $48.68 billion, a PE ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

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.