Versor Investments LP Takes Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after buying an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter worth approximately $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,644 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in Crown Castle by 95.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $102.90 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.41. The stock has a market cap of $44.72 billion, a PE ratio of 36.31 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $92.48 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.87.

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.