Freestone Grove Partners LP Invests $2.13 Million in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 23,495 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $2,132,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versor Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 4,608 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Crown Castle by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,243,722 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $113,465,000 after acquiring an additional 282,821 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $1,231,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,083,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,139,000 after purchasing an additional 4,772 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CCI shares. JMP Securities upped their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Crown Castle to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.41.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $106.98. 2,708,624 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,866,501. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $100.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.93. 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 $46.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.94 and a beta of 0.93. 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 (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 net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.85%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -58.18%.

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.