Swiss National Bank Reduces Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,356,100 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 38,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of Crown Castle worth $156,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. United Services Automobile Association increased its position in Crown Castle by 23.1% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 13,411 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,516 shares during the last quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 117,914 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $10,852,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 8,611.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 703,236 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $81,006,000 after acquiring an additional 695,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Group LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $5,005,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI traded up $0.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $97.39. 4,101,947 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,903,015. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $119.60. The company has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.76. The business's 50 day moving average price is $102.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.28. 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 (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (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 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 report on Friday, April 19th. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $113.29.

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.

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