Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $562.22 Million Stake in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3,051.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,472,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,299,155 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned 1.26% of Crown Castle worth $562,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,290,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,118,201,000 after buying an additional 449,776 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,461,578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,204,748,000 after acquiring an additional 110,050 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,387,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,229,260,000 after acquiring an additional 538,049 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $629,431,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,992,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $624,584,000 after purchasing an additional 72,511 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.08, for a total value of $2,942,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,431,203.68. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $127.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $112.00 target price on Crown Castle and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $101.00 price target (down from $104.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.59.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI opened at $90.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.62 billion, a PE ratio of -8.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $92.72 and a 200-day moving average of $97.96. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 619.62% and a negative net margin of 95.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.230-4.350 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -39.98%.

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.