Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Decreases Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,025,634 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 65,212 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.39% of Crown Castle worth $588,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $118.85 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $109.77 and its 200 day moving average is $103.78. The stock has a market cap of $51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.14 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results 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. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.