Machina Capital S.A.S. Acquires New Shares in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 8,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $971,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in Crown Castle by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 398,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,905,000 after purchasing an additional 5,815 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,450,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 4,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co raised its stake in Crown Castle by 40.3% in the 4th quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 1,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,379,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $394,023,000 after purchasing an additional 493,946 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE CCI traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $96.15. 3,076,924 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,894,361. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.56. The stock has a market cap of $41.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 195.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus cut shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.64.

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.