Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 449,776 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,290,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 449,776 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 15.91% of Crown Castle worth $7,118,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth about $305,876,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 60.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,472,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $570,443,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072,198 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 144.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,433,109 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028,718 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth approximately $149,661,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 107.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,730,309 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $284,580,000 after buying an additional 1,412,992 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.08, for a total value of $2,942,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,431,203.68. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $91.08 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $115.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.57, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $94.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.44.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.08. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 95.37% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.230-4.350 EPS. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -39.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.18.

About Crown Castle

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.