Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 422.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,895,756 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $318,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 128.7% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.39.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE CCI opened at $89.11 on Wednesday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.96 and a 52 week high of $115.76. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.09. The firm has a market cap of $38.89 billion, a PE ratio of 36.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 175.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.