Bfsg LLC Acquires Shares of 800 Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $92,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 154.8% in the 3rd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 123.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.29.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock traded down $1.14 on Thursday, reaching $94.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 602,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,812,000. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $123.79. The company has a market capitalization of $40.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.33.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.64%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

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.