Chase Investment Counsel Corp Acquires New Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,831 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,476,470,000 after buying an additional 747,390 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,079,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,186 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,105,151 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,434,229,000 after purchasing an additional 151,990 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,218,431 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $473,625,000 after purchasing an additional 130,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $613,900,000 after purchasing an additional 348,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Moffett Nathanson decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $128.00 to $106.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Crown Castle to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities started coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $108.75.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.6 %

Crown Castle stock traded up $1.48 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $95.58. 1,311,918 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,528,841. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $41.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $89.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.32. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is presently 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.