Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 30,111 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 245.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 42,371 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 30,111 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CCI. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 164.0% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.63.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI traded up $1.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $105.47. 2,303,354 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,785,922. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $119.50. The company has a market cap of $45.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.90.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Crown Castle Company 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.