Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Purchased by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Crown Castle Inc. by 14.1%, acquiring an additional 96,401 shares to reach a total of 781,517 shares valued at approximately $81.46 million.
• Crown Castle reported earnings per share of $1.02 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.00, despite a 4.2% year-over-year revenue decrease.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 4.1%, with an expected payout on September 30th.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 781,517 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 96,401 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.18% of Crown Castle worth $81,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 2,663 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 204,237 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $18,537,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 35,031 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,665,000 after acquiring an additional 4,276 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth about $262,000. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth about $307,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $103.78. 2,492,502 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,296,794. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.90. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $45.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 619.62% and a negative net margin of 85.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently -39.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $116.24.

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.