Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys New Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $631,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,243,722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $113,465,000 after purchasing an additional 282,821 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,476,000 after purchasing an additional 31,319 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,231,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,083,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,592,000 after buying an additional 203,442 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE CCI opened at $95.79 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 33.97 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $89.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.23.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CCI. Barclays raised shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $118.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.75.

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.