Capital Square LLC Boosts Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Capital Square LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,414 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Crown Castle accounts for approximately 1.2% of Capital Square LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $603,518,000 after purchasing an additional 67,072 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $603,592,000 after buying an additional 203,442 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Crown Castle by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,002,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $593,498,000 after acquiring an additional 237,730 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Crown Castle by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $387,333,000 after acquiring an additional 391,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,166,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $375,610,000 after acquiring an additional 642,010 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CCI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $106.65. The stock had a trading volume of 88,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,595,400. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.89. The company has a market cap of $46.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.39 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.48 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

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.