Toronto Dominion Bank Boosts Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 263,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,873 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.06% of Crown Castle worth $23,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,672,451,000 after buying an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,849,000 after buying an additional 1,573,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth about $95,167,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $102.30 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $101.78 and a 200 day moving average of $97.49. The company has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a PE ratio of 36.28 and a beta of 0.93. 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 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -58.18%.

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.