Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 353,956 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $40,772,000. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Crown Castle at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clarius Group LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 25.0% in the third quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 4,112 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 122.0% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,521 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 3,034 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 9.8% during the third quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 7,434 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $684,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the third quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,650 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $888,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CCI. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $113.29.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.9 %

Crown Castle stock traded up $1.74 during trading on Monday, reaching $95.32. 2,476,145 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,841,234. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $103.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.42. The company has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.79, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $123.31.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.57%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

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.