Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $106,000 Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 46.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 84,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,708,000 after acquiring an additional 13,623 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 97,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,812,000 after purchasing an additional 3,131 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH raised its stake in Crown Castle by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 12,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 3,463 shares in the last quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 14,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,101 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in Crown Castle by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 94,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,552,000 after buying an additional 5,705 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock opened at $86.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $37.66 billion, a PE ratio of 30.73 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $97.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.81. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.22%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.00.

Crown Castle 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.