Tobam Increases Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Tobam lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 467.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,059 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 9,110 shares during the period. Tobam's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 39,056 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,071,000 after purchasing an additional 2,576 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 62.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 2,967 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth about $258,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 20,301 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,116,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upgraded Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Argus raised Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock traded down $1.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $98.29. The stock had a trading volume of 2,299,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,911,401. The stock's 50 day moving average is $101.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap of $42.80 billion, a PE ratio of 34.85 and a beta of 0.88.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.50%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Company 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.