BTC Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

BTC Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,203,648,000 after buying an additional 1,064,382 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after acquiring an additional 834,198 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $512,467,000 after purchasing an additional 155,543 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America cut their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.21.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock opened at $96.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.34. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.50. The stock has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Crown Castle Company 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.