MCF Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 130 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% in 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 period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 68,262.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,274 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.3 %

Crown Castle stock traded down $2.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $108.91. 1,873,838 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,637,974. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.41. The company has a market capitalization of $47.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.62 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.38 and a 52-week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

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.