Townsend & Associates Inc Makes New $217,000 Investment in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Townsend & Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,055 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 217.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,058,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $281,439,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,272 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 21.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $932,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818,910 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,098,526,000 after buying an additional 1,496,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after buying an additional 1,064,382 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI traded up $2.68 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $99.99. 1,330,343 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,884,127. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $101.99 and a 200 day moving average of $105.63. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $119.60. The company has a market cap of $43.45 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.26%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Crown Castle 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.