Nvest Financial LLC Purchases 2,460 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Nvest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,460 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle makes up approximately 1.5% of Nvest Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Nvest Financial LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CCI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $581,503,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $932,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,818,910 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,582,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 18,200.7% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,651,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $190,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,642,432 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CCI. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $95.28. The stock had a trading volume of 2,099,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,854,695. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $98.44 and its 200 day moving average is $104.46. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.