Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Grows Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 5.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 45,507 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,490 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $5,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ellsworth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Crown Castle by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,232 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,554 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $777,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Compass Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,443 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,459,000 after buying an additional 5,641 shares during the period. Finally, Inlet Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 31,163 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,697,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.47.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE CCI opened at $112.38 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $114.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.12. The firm has a market cap of $48.83 billion, a PE ratio of 35.12 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.