Stonegate Investment Group LLC Raises Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 10.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 164.0% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 126.1% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.29.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI traded down $1.53 on Tuesday, reaching $93.79. The stock had a trading volume of 4,982,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,862,806. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $103.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.42. The company has a market cap of $40.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $123.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given 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 dividend yield of 6.67%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

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.