Maple Brown Abbott Ltd Trims Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Maple Brown Abbott Ltd decreased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 908,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 77,510 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle comprises approximately 10.8% of Maple Brown Abbott Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd owned approximately 0.21% of Crown Castle worth $104,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 3.4% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 33.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4,497.6% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 5,577 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Crown Castle by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Crown Castle by 205.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 591 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.93.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $93.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,327,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,756,007. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $134.09. The stock has a market cap of $40.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $105.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.68%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 180.92%.

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.