Freestone Grove Partners LP Makes New Investment in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 28,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,139,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CCI. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the second quarter worth $3,326,154,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Crown Castle by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,239,559 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,976,430,000 after buying an additional 511,018 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,986,852 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,012,000 after buying an additional 380,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,463,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,094,691,000 after buying an additional 1,828,065 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $76.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $76.91 and its 200-day moving average is $83.86. The company has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.72 and a 12 month high of $100.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.05 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.13.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.