Ascent Group LLC Grows Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 19.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,317 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $523,773,000 after acquiring an additional 632,398 shares in the last quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $98,570,000 after purchasing an additional 8,136 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth $4,425,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded up $0.61 on Monday, reaching $108.13. 2,151,418 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,771,258. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $119.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $100.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.79 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.79%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on 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 boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.