Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Fisher Asset Management increased its Crown Castle stake by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 5.5 million shares worth about $489.4 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted positions in CCI, and hedge funds and other institutions now own 90.77% of the stock.
• Crown Castle reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $1.02 per share and revenue of $1.01 billion, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share for a 4.6% annualized yield.

Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,506,580 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 54,078 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 1.26% of Crown Castle worth $489,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 591.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $431,418,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,778 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 422.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $318,258,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895,756 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 33.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $621,172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,291 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $121,726,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,931,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $379,327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168,132 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. This represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $507,442. This represents a 34.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "sell (d)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.52.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $91.42 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $39.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.61. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $995.42 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. Crown Castle's quarterly revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently 175.62%.

Crown Castle Company 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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