Pullen Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle makes up approximately 1.4% of Pullen Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Pullen Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,990,991,000 after purchasing an additional 673,243 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,518,000 after buying an additional 67,072 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Crown Castle by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $387,333,000 after acquiring an additional 391,127 shares during the period. ClearBridge Investments Ltd grew its stake in Crown Castle by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 2,632,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,635,000 after acquiring an additional 428,597 shares during the period. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $108.91 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $114.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.38 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.62 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.47.

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.