HighTower Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 67.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 40,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 85,032 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 87,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,000,000 after buying an additional 5,630 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 49.3% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 10,913 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after buying an additional 3,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $91.56 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $86.68 and a 200-day moving average of $87.69. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.96 and a 1 year high of $115.76. The stock has a market cap of $39.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.84, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 175.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Crown Castle from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.52.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.