Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,716,075 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 134,921 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $302,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.52.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $79.10 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $86.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.35. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.75 and a 12-month high of $115.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 175.62%.

About Crown Castle

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.