Acadian Asset Management LLC Invests $1.20 Million in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 12,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,203,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in Crown Castle by 78.8% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $581,503,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 329,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,010,000 after buying an additional 26,880 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CCI. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.2 %

CCI opened at $118.85 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $120.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.14 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $109.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.78.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released 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 firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.27%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

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.