Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Makes New Investment in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 499,644 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $45,348,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.11% of Crown Castle as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Versor Investments LP boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 4,608 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,139,000 after acquiring an additional 4,772 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 204,237 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $18,537,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,399,000 after buying an additional 13,100 shares during the period. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in Crown Castle by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,839,036 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $257,671,000 after buying an additional 242,565 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CCI shares. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $100.15. The stock had a trading volume of 5,068,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,884,744. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $101.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.51 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

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

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently -39.50%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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.