Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stock Position Raised by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CCI. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in Crown Castle by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 5,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Crown Castle by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 154,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,252,000 after purchasing an additional 12,570 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 9,335 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth about $388,000. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners grew its position in Crown Castle by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CCI. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. 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 report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Argus cut shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.64.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $97.31 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $42.28 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $119.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.63.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The firm 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 revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

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.