Legal & General Group Plc Has $535.48 Million Stake in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc boosted its Crown Castle stake by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 6,025,433 shares valued at about $535.5 million.
• Crown Castle reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $1.02 versus estimates of $0.47 and revenue of $1.01 billion, though revenue still fell 4.9% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, equal to an annualized yield of 4.6%, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Moderate Buy with an average target price of $98.52.

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,025,433 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 403,943 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 1.38% of Crown Castle worth $535,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 128.7% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 382 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of CCI stock opened at $91.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $86.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.62. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $115.76. The company has a market capitalization 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.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 175.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Weiss Ratings raised Crown Castle from a "sell (d)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research lowered Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed 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, Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $507,442. This represents a 34.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle 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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