Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases Shares of 8,303 Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 8,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,326,154,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased 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 valued at $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,239,559 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,976,430,000 after purchasing an additional 511,018 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,986,852 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,012,000 after purchasing an additional 380,419 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,463,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,094,691,000 after buying an additional 1,828,065 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CCI. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.13.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.9%

CCI opened at $75.62 on Thursday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.72 and a 12-month high of $102.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.17 and a 200-day moving average of $83.96.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 215.74%.

About Crown Castle

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.