Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Purchased by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 14.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,786 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 361 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after buying an additional 1,335,644 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after buying an additional 1,261,536 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 13,271.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 973,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,449,000 after acquiring an additional 965,907 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Crown Castle by 10.7% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $387,333,000 after purchasing an additional 391,127 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $106.69 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.98. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.48 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market capitalization of $46.37 billion, a PE ratio of 37.83 and a beta of 0.86.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

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.