Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Aufman Associates Inc

Aufman Associates Inc decreased its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle accounts for approximately 1.1% of Aufman Associates Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Aufman Associates Inc’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after buying an additional 747,390 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,079,417,000 after buying an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,105,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,434,229,000 after buying an additional 151,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $561,714,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.00.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.0 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $103.61 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a market cap of $45.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.74 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.78.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -69.71%.

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.