Ninety One UK Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Ninety One UK Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 847,754 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 33,983 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned about 0.20% of Crown Castle worth $97,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 3.4% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,734 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 33.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4,497.6% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,701 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 5,577 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,802 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Crown Castle by 205.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of CCI traded up $1.32 on Thursday, reaching $94.37. 4,937,712 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,808,958. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $134.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.95% and a net margin of 21.47%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently 180.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $119.40.

Crown Castle 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.