First Trust Bank Ltd. Buys New Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

First Trust Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 12,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,457,000. Crown Castle accounts for about 2.0% of First Trust Bank Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of CCI stock traded down $0.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $98.12. 2,094,881 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,862,353. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.20. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $119.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.64.

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.