Zimmer Partners LP Buys 45,500 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 233.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 45,500 shares during the quarter. Zimmer Partners LP's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $5,899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CCI. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $613,900,000 after buying an additional 348,296 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,102 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,734,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $388,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $328,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 12,446 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,130,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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. Insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE CCI opened at $102.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.94 and a 200-day moving average of $97.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -58.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CCI. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.71.

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.

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