Financial Advocates Investment Management Boosts Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter worth about $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,183,000 after buying an additional 1,335,644 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after buying an additional 1,261,536 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,274 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on CCI shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $106.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $92.48 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $113.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.82. The company has a market cap of $46.32 billion, a PE ratio of 37.79 and a beta of 0.86.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

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.