PGGM Investments Purchases Shares of 1,501 Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

PGGM Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $159,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $254,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $264,000. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 258.3% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 6,406 shares during the period. Finally, Seed Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $285,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of CCI opened at $115.21 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The company has a market capitalization of $50.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.00 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $101.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.20.

Crown Castle 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.