Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 898,064 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 25,350 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.21% of Crown Castle worth $103,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after buying an additional 1,064,382 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 14.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,526,000 after buying an additional 1,496,330 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 21.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $932,682,000 after buying an additional 1,818,910 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after buying an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $512,467,000 after buying an additional 155,543 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Up 2.9 %

CCI stock traded up $2.87 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $100.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,078,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,880,043. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $119.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.63.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.25%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.64.

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.