25,103 Shares in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Bought by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 25,103 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $2,616,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $5,672,451,000 after buying an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Crown Castle by 18.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 1.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Crown Castle by 1.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.47.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI traded up $4.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $113.92. 3,938,455 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,221,440. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.88. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $101.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.14.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 78.12% and a negative return on equity of 164.40%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Crown Castle's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,528 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Crown Castle

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.