Pitcairn Co. Acquires 341 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Pitcairn Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $581,503,000. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth approximately $221,573,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,582,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18,200.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,651,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,432 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Crown Castle by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,297,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $105.53. 2,458,409 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,783,617. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $99.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.92. The company has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.83. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $119.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.93%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.88.

Crown Castle 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.