Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 864,421 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,426 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Crown Castle worth $102,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 107.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $102.76 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $44.66 billion, a PE ratio of 36.44 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $92.48 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.09%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

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.