Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. Has $18.42 Million Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. reduced its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 202,928 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 21,743 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $18,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $613,900,000 after purchasing an additional 348,296 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,102 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $388,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $328,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Crown Castle by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 12,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Crown Castle to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock opened at $102.92 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The firm has a market cap of $44.82 billion, a PE ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day moving average of $101.94 and a 200-day moving average of $97.46. 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is -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.