Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC Acquires New Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,422 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,990,991,000 after buying an additional 673,243 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after acquiring an additional 834,198 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 632,398 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,333,000 after purchasing an additional 391,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on CCI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE CCI opened at $119.62 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $51.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $110.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.92. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.