Plato Investment Management Ltd Raises Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1,205.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,422 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,547 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 519.0% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 10,359 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 12,812 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,008,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.3% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 716,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $75,808,000 after buying an additional 9,511 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of CCI stock traded up $2.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $112.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,232,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,758,421. The company has a market capitalization of $48.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40 and a beta of 0.83. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $119.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $100.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced 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. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.57%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.