Invesco Ltd. Boosts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,380,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 436,657 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $397,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $95,167,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.00.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $94.80 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.03 and its 200-day moving average is $99.68. The company has a market cap of $41.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.71%.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.