KCM Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,760 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,531 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,760 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $16,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 13.5% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 8.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 64,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,737 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,867 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 101.1% during the third quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 421,652 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,021,000 after acquiring an additional 211,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 333.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 377,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,784,000 after acquiring an additional 290,410 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.1 %

CCI traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $103.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 189,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,594,401. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 0.86. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $92.48 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.29 and its 200-day moving average is $106.38.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during 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%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of 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 increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.87.

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.