Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 864,421 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 10,426 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Crown Castle worth $102,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Crown Castle by 24.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $17,476,000 after buying an additional 31,319 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 30.4% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Crown Castle by 21.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 517,964 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $54,816,000 after buying an additional 91,404 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 91,118 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,902,000 after purchasing an additional 17,529 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.3 %

Crown Castle stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $103.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,049,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,599,150. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.78 billion, a PE ratio of 36.31 and a beta of 0.86. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $112.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.41. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.48 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. Analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.