Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stake in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 229,686 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 11,098 shares during the period. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.05% of Crown Castle worth $20,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter worth $29,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter worth $31,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter worth $31,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 128.7% during 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. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target 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 price target on Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.52.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $88.13 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.96 and a twelve month high of $115.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $89.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.69.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued 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 negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 175.62%.

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.