Avalon Trust Co Raises Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Avalon Trust Co increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 40.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the quarter. Avalon Trust Co’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 217.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,058,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $281,439,000 after buying an additional 2,096,272 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $932,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818,910 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in Crown Castle by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Argus downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.29.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock traded up $0.95 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $97.39. The company had a trading volume of 4,119,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,351,464. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $119.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.