Allstate Corp Makes New Investment in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 17,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,653,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 7.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 20,486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,742 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 1,933 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $86.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $88.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.48. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $83.21 and a 1-year high of $115.76. The stock has a market cap of $37.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.96.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.08. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 619.62% and a negative net margin of 95.37%.The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $101.00 price objective (down from $104.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, December 1st. New Street Research downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.11.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,431,203.68. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle 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.