Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Invests $247,000 in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,330 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 4.0% in the first quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.9 %

Crown Castle stock traded up $1.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $107.52. 1,631,832 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,465,425. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $119.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $99.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank decreased 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 note on Thursday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.