Fmr LLC Decreases Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Fmr LLC reduced its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 6.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,308,482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 955,976 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,697,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Crown Castle by 191.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 13,271.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 973,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,449,000 after acquiring an additional 965,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Crown Castle by 10.7% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,333,000 after acquiring an additional 391,127 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $106.30 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.48 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.98. The firm has a market cap of $46.20 billion, a PE ratio of 37.69 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.89%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.