Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Purchases 370 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 46.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 84,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,708,000 after purchasing an additional 13,623 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 97,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,812,000 after buying an additional 3,131 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 12,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 3,463 shares in the last quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 14,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in Crown Castle by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 94,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,552,000 after acquiring an additional 5,705 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI opened at $86.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $97.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.81. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market capitalization of $37.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73 and a beta of 0.87.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.22%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.00.

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.