Stance Capital LLC Takes Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Stance Capital LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,545 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,403,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 0.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,290,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,118,201,000 after purchasing an additional 449,776 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Crown Castle by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,728,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,096,587,000 after acquiring an additional 266,963 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $621,172,000 after buying an additional 1,605,291 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,185,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $596,876,000 after acquiring an additional 177,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the second quarter worth $629,431,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. Wolfe Research lowered Crown Castle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $96.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $112.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $87.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.97, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.65. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.01 and a 12-month high of $115.76.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 420.79%.

About Crown Castle

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.