Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 281,576 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. by 24.5% in the first quarter, owning approximately 0.33% of the company after purchasing 281,576 additional shares.
• Crown Castle reported earnings of $1.02 per share, beating expectations, but its revenue declined 4.2% year-over-year, signaling potential challenges ahead.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 4.1%, with the payment scheduled for September 30th.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 24.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,431,332 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 281,576 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.33% of Crown Castle worth $149,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.1% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 72,448 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,487 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 35.1% during the first quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,887 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528 shares during the last quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.8% during the first quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 56,559 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $305,876,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $124.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $116.24.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI traded down $0.75 on Thursday, hitting $101.08. 2,249,103 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,247,424. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $103.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.04. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $44.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is -39.83%.

Crown Castle Profile

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.