Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stake Boosted by &Partners

&Partners lifted its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 73.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,112 shares during the period. &Partners’ holdings in Crown Castle were worth $527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Crown Castle by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after buying an additional 834,198 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Crown Castle by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after buying an additional 1,126,394 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Crown Castle by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $512,467,000 after acquiring an additional 155,543 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on CCI shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.21.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $96.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $98.18 and its 200-day moving average is $105.25. The company has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.82. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $119.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

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.