Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lowered its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,678 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,347 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $8,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 673,243 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in 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 worth $603,518,000 after purchasing an additional 67,072 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,333,000 after purchasing an additional 391,127 shares in the last quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 2,632,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $278,635,000 after purchasing an additional 428,597 shares during the period. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI opened at $105.85 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $46.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.54 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $92.48 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.91%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.87.

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.