National Pension Service Purchases 25,350 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 898,064 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 25,350 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $103,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 126.1% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in Crown Castle by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 154.8% in the 3rd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Argus cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.64.

Crown Castle Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of CCI traded up $2.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $100.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,078,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,880,043. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $101.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.63. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.60. The company has a market capitalization of $43.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.25%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

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.