Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Bought by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 269,126 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,811 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.06% of Crown Castle worth $28,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $400,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 161.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 49,930 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,284,000 after purchasing an additional 30,800 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 143.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 121,654 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,875,000 after purchasing an additional 71,672 shares during the period. Invst LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth about $717,000. Finally, PGGM Investments purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth about $159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CCI. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.20.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock traded up $2.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $115.21. 2,633,025 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,235,651. The company has a market cap of $50.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.00 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $101.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.76. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was 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 owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.