Capital Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 84,925 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 13,623 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $7,708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 107.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 3,672.7% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 415 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Finally, Investors Research Corp raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 423 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upgraded Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $113.00.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.3 %

CCI traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $85.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,524,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,138,275. The stock's 50-day moving average is $98.47 and its 200-day moving average is $105.97. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle's payout ratio 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.