Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Purchases 7,000 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 37.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 25,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Crown Castle by 191.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in Crown Castle by 95.8% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 13,271.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 973,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,449,000 after acquiring an additional 965,907 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Crown Castle by 10.7% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,333,000 after acquiring an additional 391,127 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $106.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $92.48 and a one year high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $46.20 billion, a PE ratio of 37.69 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.98.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.89%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

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.