Westpac Banking Corp Purchases 11,386 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Westpac Banking Corp boosted its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 61.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,922 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,386 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the third quarter worth $29,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 55.6% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 128.7% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CCI. Wall Street Zen raised Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.52.

Crown Castle Stock Down 2.5%

CCI opened at $76.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.75 and a 52 week high of $115.76. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.99.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 175.62%.

Crown Castle Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.