Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 28,253 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 223,758 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 28,253 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $16,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 55.6% in the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the first quarter worth about $32,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $76.25 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.81. The company has a market capitalization of $32.44 billion, a PE ratio of 38.71, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.72 and a 12 month high of $100.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.17). Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 51.60% and a net margin of 20.71%.The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. Analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CCI. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.13.

Crown Castle Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.