Man Group plc Trims Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Man Group plc cut its stake in Crown Castle by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 220,203 shares and leaving it with 1.38 million shares worth about $122.8 million.
• Crown Castle reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings of $1.02 per share, beating estimates, while revenue came in at $1.01 billion and management issued FY 2026 EPS guidance of $4.38 to $4.49.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 5.0%, though the payout ratio is high at 175.62%.

Man Group plc reduced its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,381,297 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 220,203 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned 0.32% of Crown Castle worth $122,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 124.2% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,034,013,000 after buying an additional 6,445,237 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,536,214,000 after buying an additional 3,953,685 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 591.8% during 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 buying an additional 3,824,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 422.5% during 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 buying an additional 2,895,756 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $85.84 on Thursday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $89.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.66. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.96 and a 12-month high of $115.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.47 billion, a PE ratio of 35.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.42 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 175.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wolfe Research cut Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Crown Castle from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.52.

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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