Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 144,538 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its Crown Castle stake by 2.3% in the first quarter, buying 144,538 shares and bringing its total holding to 6.33 million shares worth about $514.3 million.
• Several other institutions also adjusted positions in CCI, and institutional investors now own 90.77% of the company’s stock.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but generally positive, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a price target of $98.52, while Crown Castle recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and pays a $1.0625 quarterly dividend yielding about 5.4%.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,325,747 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 144,538 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.45% of Crown Castle worth $514,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 4,931 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc increased its position in Crown Castle by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Applied Capital LLC FL increased its position in Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 15,269 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,357,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 55.6% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.2% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,488 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "hold" rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.52.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $78.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The stock's fifty day moving average is $85.41 and its 200 day moving average is $86.08. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.75 and a 52 week high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $995.41 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is 175.62%.

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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