Sapient Capital LLC Takes Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of 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 worth $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 217.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,058,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $281,439,000 after buying an additional 2,096,272 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 21.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 14.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,496,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew 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 worth $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.64.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.2 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $96.14 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $119.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.77 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.63.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.51%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.