M&G Plc Increases Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

M&G Plc increased its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,180,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,843 shares during the period. Crown Castle accounts for 1.3% of M&G Plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. M&G Plc owned 0.50% of Crown Castle worth $259,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,990,991,000 after purchasing an additional 673,243 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,518,000 after acquiring an additional 67,072 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $387,333,000 after acquiring an additional 391,127 shares during the last quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 2,632,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,635,000 after acquiring an additional 428,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 95.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $103.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $44.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.69 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $92.48 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $113.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.09.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

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.