Sarasin & Partners LLP Grows Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,139 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 8,083 shares during the quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $8,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:CCI traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $110.11. The stock had a trading volume of 180,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,635,436. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.75. The company has a market cap of $47.85 billion, a PE ratio of 40.27 and a beta of 0.85.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 229.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.67.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.