Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by DnB Asset Management AS

DnB Asset Management AS lessened its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,912 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,159 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $6,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after buying an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,079,417,000 after buying an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $95,167,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,476,470,000 after acquiring an additional 747,390 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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 research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.00.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CCI opened at $103.61 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.74 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $94.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.04%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -69.71%.

About Crown Castle

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.