iA Global Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 19,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,462,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,769,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,200,406,000 after acquiring an additional 386,733 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,239,559 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,976,430,000 after purchasing an additional 511,018 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,986,852 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,012,000 after purchasing an additional 380,419 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 15.7% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,463,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,094,691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,065 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at $388,025.57. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock opened at $75.75 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $69.72 and a one year high of $104.61. The firm has a market cap of $32.23 billion, a PE ratio of 38.45, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $79.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.58.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.74%.

About Crown Castle

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.