Clearbridge Investments LLC Invests $302,000 in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCI. United Services Automobile Association lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 13,411 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,516 shares during the last quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 117,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,852,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 8,611.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 703,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,006,000 after purchasing an additional 695,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,005,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.64.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $98.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The business’s 50 day moving average is $99.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.35. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $119.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.66, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released 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 firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

About Crown Castle

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.