Guggenheim Capital LLC Grows Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 79,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,424 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $7,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after buying an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $95,167,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus raised shares of Crown Castle to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.88.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $103.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $97.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.91.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is -69.71%.

About Crown Castle

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.