Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 5.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,002,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 237,730 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $593,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on CCI. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $104.61 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.48 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $45.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $110.87 and its 200-day moving average is $106.69.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 221.99%.

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.