Crown Castle Inc. $CCI Stock Holdings Lifted by Skylands Capital LLC

Key Points

• Skylands Capital increased its stake in Crown Castle (CCI) by 6.2% to 262,050 shares (about $23.3M), making CCI the fund's 6th-largest holding and 3.2% of its portfolio.
• Strong quarterly results: Crown Castle beat EPS estimates ($1.02 vs. $0.47) and revenue slightly topped expectations, while management set FY2026 guidance of $4.38–$4.49 versus analysts' average ~$4.23.
• High yield but high payout ratio: The company pays a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 (annualized $4.25, ~5.1% yield) but reports a payout ratio of 175.62%, signaling potential sustainability concerns.

Skylands Capital LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 262,050 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Crown Castle comprises 3.2% of Skylands Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Skylands Capital LLC owned about 0.06% of Crown Castle worth $23,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $1,714,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 6.9% during 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 buying an additional 5,630 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,655 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 49.3% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 10,913 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,121,000 after buying an additional 3,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,955 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Trading Down 3.4%

NYSE CCI opened at $83.36 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $85.91 and its 200 day moving average is $88.37. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $115.76. The stock has a market cap of $36.38 billion, a PE ratio of 34.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.94.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $995.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently 175.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $101.00 to $91.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $99.34.

Crown Castle Profile

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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