Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Increases Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after buying an additional 1,064,382 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after acquiring an additional 834,198 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126,394 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Crown Castle by 42.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $512,467,000 after purchasing an additional 155,543 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on CCI shares. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective 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. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.8 %

CCI traded down $0.78 on Friday, hitting $95.88. The company had a trading volume of 286,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,820,640. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $119.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.22. The company has a market cap of $41.66 billion, a PE ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 195.63%.

Crown Castle Company 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.