Franklin Resources Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 228,910 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 4,634 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.05% of Crown Castle worth $20,776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $1,434,229,000 after buying an additional 151,990 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth $561,714,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,218,431 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $473,625,000 after acquiring an additional 130,414 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James raised shares of Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.88.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.6 %

CCI stock traded up $1.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $96.65. 3,419,518 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,921,291. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $96.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.21. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92. 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 company has a market cap of $42.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.48%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.71%.

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.