Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires 5,262 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,684 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 5,262 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 10.9% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,346 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 8.4% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 61,777 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,538,000 after buying an additional 4,776 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 14.2% during the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 5,610 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth approximately $221,573,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,897,790 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $198,218,000 after acquiring an additional 17,338 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded up $0.88 on Friday, reaching $103.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,289,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,603,876. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $92.48 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $112.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market capitalization of $45.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Crown Castle Profile

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.