Maple Brown Abbott Ltd Has $103.93 Million Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Maple Brown Abbott Ltd lessened its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 876,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 85,290 shares during the period. Crown Castle accounts for 10.3% of Maple Brown Abbott Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd owned about 0.20% of Crown Castle worth $103,934,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $5,990,991,000 after purchasing an additional 673,243 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after purchasing an additional 834,198 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 67,072 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $523,773,000 after buying an additional 632,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.8 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $115.78 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.18 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.41%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on CCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price objective (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.40.

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.