MFG Wealth Management Inc. Makes New $1.78 Million Investment in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

MFG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 17,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,780,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% during the 4th 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. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,119,225,000 after buying an additional 228,007 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Crown Castle by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $557,662,000 after acquiring an additional 58,903 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CCI. Citigroup boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group raised shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. New Street Research upgraded Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $101.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $101.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.70. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 164.40% and a negative net margin of 78.12%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.50%.

Crown Castle 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.