National Pension Service Boosts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

National Pension Service raised its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,085,085 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 123,215 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.25% of Crown Castle worth $128,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after buying an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 1,335,644 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 95.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after buying an additional 1,261,536 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,239,000 after buying an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $108.36 on Tuesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $92.48 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.43 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $113.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.01.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

About Crown Castle

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.