Ieq Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after buying an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter worth approximately $221,573,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 18,200.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,651,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,432 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $115.33 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $111.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.04 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

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.