Optas LLC Takes $240,000 Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Optas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,339 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.8% in the first quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 36.6% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.3% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,357 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,894,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 1.5% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 8,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.76.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $96.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $98.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $115.89. The company has a market capitalization of $42.07 billion, a PE ratio of -9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.95.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.140-4.250 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is -39.83%.

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.