American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. by 36.9% during the first quarter, raising its holdings to 198,171 shares valued at approximately $20.65 million.
• Crown Castle reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.02, surpassing analysts' expectations, although its revenue decreased 4.2% year-over-year to $1.06 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, with an annualized yield of 4.1%, set to be paid to shareholders on September 30th.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 36.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 198,171 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 53,405 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $20,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CCI. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $2,442,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 164,322 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $14,914,000 after buying an additional 50,874 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 8,141 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,931 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 9,173 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 2,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $124.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $116.41.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.5%

CCI stock traded down $2.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $97.63. 1,566,677 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,222,252. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $42.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.15, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.89. The stock's 50-day moving average is $104.02 and its 200 day moving average is $100.89.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.140-4.250 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -39.83%.

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.