Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Acquires Shares of 690,874 Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec acquired 690,874 Crown Castle shares worth approximately $52.3 million, representing about 0.16% of the REIT. Institutional investors collectively own 90.77% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive view, with Crown Castle receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $95.13, despite some recent target-price reductions.
• Crown Castle reported quarterly EPS of $0.22, below the $0.39 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $1.01 billion and declined 4.9% year over year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, equating to a 5.7% annualized yield.

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 690,874 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $52,320,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec owned about 0.16% of Crown Castle as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,714,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 87,611 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $9,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,630 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 3.7% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,655 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 49.3% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 10,913 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.6% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,955 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CCI. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Citizens Jmp dropped 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 note on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Crown Castle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, July 24th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.13.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of Crown Castle 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares of the company's stock, valued at $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI opened at $75.06 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.72 and a 52-week high of $100.50. The firm has a market cap of $31.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The business's fifty day moving average is $77.03 and its 200-day moving average is $83.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.05 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. The firm'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. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.74%.

About Crown Castle

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.

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