The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,085,456 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 52,097 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle makes up approximately 0.6% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 1.40% of Crown Castle worth $721,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Square LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.2% during the third quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 16,414 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,947,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 23,366 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,772,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,651 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $167,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $603,592,000 after acquiring an additional 203,442 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CCI traded up $0.22 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $106.30. The stock had a trading volume of 2,914,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,614,563. 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 $46.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.69 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.48 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The business's 50-day moving average price is $110.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.98.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business's revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.89%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.