Whittier Trust Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 16.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,178 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 303 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.47.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI opened at $110.68 on Thursday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.49 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.09 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.66%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

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.