Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 125,202 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $9,482,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CCI. United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 4,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.9% during the third quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 9,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CCI. Wall Street Zen upgraded Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.13.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:CCI opened at $75.91 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $79.61 and its 200 day moving average is $84.52. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.72 and a 12 month high of $104.61. The company has a market capitalization of $32.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 215.74%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.