Benjamin Edwards Inc. Raises Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. by 41.8% in Q1, owning 10,311 shares valued at $1,075,000 as of the latest filing.
• Several institutional investors, including Allspring Global Investments and CWA Asset Management, also expanded their holdings in Crown Castle, reflecting strong investor interest with 90.77% of the company's stock owned by hedge funds and institutions.
• Crown Castle reported $1.02 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, but faced a 4.2% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 41.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,311 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 3,039 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth about $26,000. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 62.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1,878.9% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 376 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CCI. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Crown Castle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. New Street Research raised Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $105.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $116.24.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE CCI traded up $0.56 on Friday, reaching $101.61. 2,849,875 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,616,050. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.25 billion, a PE ratio of -9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.89. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $103.56 and a 200 day moving average of $100.27.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. Crown Castle's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.83%.

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.