Candriam S.C.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Candriam S.C.A. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 26.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 58,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 12,226 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 124.2% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,034,013,000 after buying an additional 6,445,237 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,536,214,000 after buying an additional 3,953,685 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 591.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $431,418,000 after acquiring an additional 3,824,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 422.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $318,258,000 after acquiring an additional 2,895,756 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2%

CCI stock opened at $79.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.41. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.75 and a 12-month high of $115.76. The firm has a market cap of $34.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.98, a P/E/G 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS 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 given a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 175.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.52.

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.