Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 122,948 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,478,477 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 122,948 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $625,975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 154.8% in the third quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 126.1% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.64.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI traded up $0.22 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $96.14. 3,120,169 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,905,795. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $101.99 and a 200-day moving average of $105.63. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $119.60.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.