Hilltop Holdings Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 184.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,324 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 10,593 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $603,518,000 after buying an additional 67,072 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $603,592,000 after buying an additional 203,442 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,002,934 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $593,498,000 after buying an additional 237,730 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $387,333,000 after buying an additional 391,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 433.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,968,959 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $470,838,000 after buying an additional 3,225,460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.2 %

CCI traded down $1.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $103.44. The stock had a trading volume of 3,403,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,608,576. The stock's 50 day moving average is $108.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.09. 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 company has a market capitalization of $44.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.68 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $92.48 and a one year high of $120.92.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CCI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $116.87.

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.