Westpac Banking Corp Invests $2.07 Million in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 27,346 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 128.7% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $388,025.57. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCI. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Wolfe Research downgraded Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.13.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $75.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.34, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.11. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $69.72 and a one year high of $104.61.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.