Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Increases Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 51,536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,222 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $5,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $523,773,000 after acquiring an additional 632,398 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA increased its stake in Crown Castle by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $98,570,000 after buying an additional 8,136 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,425,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 30.4% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,789,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $112.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $105.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $119.50. The firm has a market cap of $48.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle 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.