National Pension Service Has $103.45 Million Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

National Pension Service grew its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 898,064 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 25,350 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.21% of Crown Castle worth $103,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 5,268 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 154,858 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $14,252,000 after acquiring an additional 12,570 shares during the period. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 9,335 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at approximately $388,000. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 32.6% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,536 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CCI. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.64.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock traded up $2.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $99.88. The company had a trading volume of 3,209,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,904,880. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $101.77 and a 200-day moving average of $105.57. The firm has a market cap of $43.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. Crown Castle's revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.