Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stock Holdings Lessened by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 32.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 431,582 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 208,819 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Crown Castle worth $49,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Crown Castle by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496,330 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Crown Castle by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $932,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818,910 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Crown Castle by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Crown Castle by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $512,467,000 after purchasing an additional 155,543 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $93.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $103.65 and its 200-day moving average is $105.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $123.79.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CCI. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.29.

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.