Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Buys New Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 545 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 217.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,058,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $281,439,000 after buying an additional 2,096,272 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Crown Castle by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $932,682,000 after buying an additional 1,818,910 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,526,000 after buying an additional 1,496,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in Crown Castle by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after buying an additional 1,064,382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of CCI stock opened at $95.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $103.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.25. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $123.79. The company has a market capitalization of $41.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. 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. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.29.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.