Natixis Advisors LLC Increases Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 15.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 391,514 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 51,006 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $46,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 107.9% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 159.0% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 163.9% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.9 %

CCI stock opened at $103.80 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.81 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $92.48 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.03%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

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.