Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Acquired by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 25,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,203,648,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,382 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased 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 worth $1,310,559,000 after purchasing an additional 834,198 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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 worth $1,297,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings 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 valued at $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $512,467,000 after buying an additional 155,543 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE CCI traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $95.88. The company had a trading volume of 286,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,820,640. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.22. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $119.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The stock has a market cap of $41.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid 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 Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Argus cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

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.