Fifth Third Bancorp Raises Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,995 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $523,773,000 after acquiring an additional 632,398 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $98,570,000 after purchasing an additional 8,136 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,425,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 30.4% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,789,000 after buying an additional 8,346 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. Bank of America lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $109.57. The stock had a trading volume of 1,452,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,702,708. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $103.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.89. 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 $47.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.71%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

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.