Magellan Asset Management Ltd Has $232.16 Million Stake in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 59.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,855,204 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,064,860 shares during the period. Crown Castle accounts for approximately 3.0% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned 0.65% of Crown Castle worth $232,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 55.6% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 128.7% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $76.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.75 and a fifty-two week high of $115.76. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.99.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 175.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Crown Castle from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.52.

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.