First Trust Advisors LP Has $14.91 Million Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 44.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 164,322 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 50,874 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $14,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $106.43. 1,219,139 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,864,497. The company has a market capitalization of $46.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.73 and a beta of 0.93. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $100.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.23. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -58.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CCI shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $107.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Crown Castle from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. Finally, Argus upgraded Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $111.18.

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.