Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Increases Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 982,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 147,386 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.23% of Crown Castle worth $95,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $1,227,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.5% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 5.7% during 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 in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $841,000. Finally, Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 143,859 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,055,000 after purchasing an additional 19,641 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $115.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.04 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. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.05.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.43%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

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 value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. 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 research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.53.

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.