Morningstar Investment Management LLC Has $789,000 Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 915 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $119.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.74 billion, a PE ratio of 37.21 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $120.31. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $109.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.74.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.