Crown Castle Inc. $CCI Position Lifted by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 103,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,338 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $8,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 124.2% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,034,013,000 after buying an additional 6,445,237 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,536,214,000 after buying an additional 3,953,685 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 591.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $431,418,000 after buying an additional 3,824,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 422.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $318,258,000 after buying an additional 2,895,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $77.73 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $33.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.75 and a 12-month high of $115.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.91.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 175.62%.

Crown Castle News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Crown Castle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Crown Castle reported quarterly FFO of $1.13 per share, beating the Zacks consensus estimate of $1.00, while revenue of about $1.01 billion also came in slightly above expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its full-year 2026 EPS guidance to $4.53-$4.65, above the prior outlook and above analyst expectations, signaling better-than-expected earnings momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Management also nudged up its 2026 AFFO outlook and increased expected net income, suggesting stronger cash generation and profitability than previously forecast.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported quarterly EPS of $0.22 missed one consensus estimate, but the miss appears less important to investors than the stronger FFO and guidance update.
• Neutral Sentiment: Year-over-year revenue was still down 4.9%, indicating the core business remains under some pressure even as earnings expectations improve.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research cut Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.52.

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.