Franklin Resources Inc. Has $26.16 Million Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 233,544 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 28,478 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.05% of Crown Castle worth $26,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 747,390 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Crown Castle by 23.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,079,417,000 after acquiring an additional 3,371,186 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 1.3% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 151,990 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $603,518,000 after acquiring an additional 67,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.2% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.1 %

CCI stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $90.66. The company had a trading volume of 8,348,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,719,135. The company has a 50 day moving average of $105.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.92. The company has a market capitalization of $39.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.64 and a 1 year high of $120.92. 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company's revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $117.00.

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.