GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 916 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 18.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 916 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 95.2% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $102.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $101.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 78.12% and a negative return on equity of 164.40%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CCI. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.