Morningstar Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Morningstar Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,521 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 6.9% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 87,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,630 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 49.3% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 10,913 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 5.6% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $91.42 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.78, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.96 and a twelve month high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.42 million. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 175.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Crown Castle from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. This represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Crown Castle Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.