Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Sells 2,253 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. trimmed its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,253 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $119.62 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $51.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.92. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 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 Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Crown Castle Company 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.