Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Purchased by UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,176,079 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 207,120 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.96% of Crown Castle worth $379,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,119,225,000 after purchasing an additional 228,007 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $557,662,000 after purchasing an additional 58,903 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CCI shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group upgraded Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.71.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $102.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.50. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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