Essex Financial Services Inc. Boosts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 44.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,709 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 164.0% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 163.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.3 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $112.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $48.68 billion, a PE ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.20. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $119.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.59%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.