Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 8.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,651 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. True North Advisors LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE CCI opened at $106.69 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $46.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $109.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.98.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 221.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

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.