ARS Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

ARS Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 112.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,995 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,242 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $8,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,290,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,118,201,000 after buying an additional 449,776 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,387,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,229,260,000 after acquiring an additional 538,049 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,992,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $624,584,000 after acquiring an additional 72,511 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 60.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,472,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $570,443,000 after acquiring an additional 2,072,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,212,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $543,264,000 after purchasing an additional 90,371 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:CCI opened at $91.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.44. The stock has a market cap of $39.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.94. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 95.37% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.230-4.350 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently -39.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.08, for a total transaction of $2,942,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 65,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,431,203.68. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $114.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.18.

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.