Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Raises Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 811.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,152 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $613,900,000 after acquiring an additional 348,296 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 3,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Up 2.5%

CCI stock opened at $100.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.71 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The business’s 50-day moving average is $101.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.66. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -58.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. New Street Research raised Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.41.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

About Crown Castle

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.