Insider Buying: Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Director Buys 99 Shares of Stock

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Director Jason Genrich purchased 99 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $109.32 per share, with a total value of $10,822.68. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,474.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Jason Genrich also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, April 2nd, Jason Genrich bought 18 shares of Crown Castle stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $103.17 per share, with a total value of $1,857.06.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI traded down $1.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $95.92. The company had a trading volume of 2,930,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,903,331. The company’s 50-day moving average is $102.18 and its 200-day moving average is $105.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $41.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $119.60.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. United Services Automobile Association raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 23.1% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 13,411 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,234,000 after buying an additional 2,516 shares during the last quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 117,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,852,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 8,611.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 703,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,006,000 after purchasing an additional 695,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Group LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,005,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.29.

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.