Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Bought by Granite Investment Partners LLC

Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the second quarter valued at about $841,000. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership boosted its position in Crown Castle by 15.8% during the second quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 143,859 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,055,000 after acquiring an additional 19,641 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,613,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $157,634,000 after acquiring an additional 60,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 42,554 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,158,000 after acquiring an additional 2,927 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $115.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.11. The company has a market capitalization of $50.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The business’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.43%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on 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 lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price objective (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.