Capital Investment Advisors LLC Buys 3,665 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,302 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,665 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $8,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 13.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 2.4% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.4% in the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. True North Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% in the third quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,899,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.47.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $112.45 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $114.03 and its 200 day moving average is $105.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.19 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 229.30%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.