Crown Castle Inc. $CCI Shares Purchased by Bell Bank

Bell Bank grew its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 28.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 107,989 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,866 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $7,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Saudi Central Bank increased its position in Crown Castle by 89.9% during the second quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 30,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,312,000 after buying an additional 14,451 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $68,627,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $13,219,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth $168,855,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 8.1% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 674,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,089,000 after buying an additional 50,772 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 price objective on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.97.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $80.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $34.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.10, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.94. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.32 and a 12 month high of $100.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.62.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.05 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.74%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $388,025.57. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle Inc (NYSE: CCI) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and leases communications infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.

The company’s infrastructure has historically included approximately 40,000 cell towers, about 90,000 route miles of fiber and a large portfolio of small-cell installations.