Welch & Forbes LLC Raises Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Welch & Forbes LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $226,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCI. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Investors Research Corp raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 57.2% during the third quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays raised shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $128.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.75.

Crown Castle Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of CCI stock opened at $97.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $42.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.88.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 221.99%.

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.