Bank of Montreal Can Boosts Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 684,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,724 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.16% of Crown Castle worth $66,005,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter valued at approximately $629,431,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3,051.5% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,472,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $562,221,000 after purchasing an additional 5,299,155 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at $121,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,030 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $375,697,000 after purchasing an additional 926,721 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 15,241.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 757,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $77,858,000 after buying an additional 752,951 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. HSBC cut their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.13.

Crown Castle Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $86.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $37.53 billion, a PE ratio of 85.22, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.26 and a 200 day moving average of $91.05. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.01 and a 12 month high of $115.76.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 420.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. This represents a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.