Conning Inc. Raises Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Conning Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,777 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $581,503,000. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth $221,573,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $201,582,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 18,200.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,651,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $190,231,000 after buying an additional 1,642,432 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after buying an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $113.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,549,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,662,629. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $119.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.01. 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 firm has a market cap of $49.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

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 shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.