Eastern Bank Takes Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,003 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $119,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% in the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4.4% in the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% in the third quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.47.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $111.42 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $114.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.42 billion, a PE ratio of 39.51 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.49 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.62%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

Crown Castle 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.