Magellan Asset Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Magellan Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 2,780,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $210,552,000. Crown Castle makes up about 4.7% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CCI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,326,154,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 124.2% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,034,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445,237 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $429,341,000. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $75.53 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.72 and a 52 week high of $104.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.10. The firm has a market cap of $32.13 billion, a PE ratio of 38.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.17). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 215.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.13.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.