Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Raises Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,272 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Napa Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4.6% in the third quarter. Napa Wealth Management now owns 2,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,475 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.12.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $103.20 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $91.00 and a 200 day moving average of $101.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 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.