Janus Henderson Group PLC Raises Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,396 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $5,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $613,900,000 after acquiring an additional 348,296 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,102 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $388,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $328,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 12,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $102.30 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.28 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $101.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.49.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. Argus upgraded shares of Crown Castle to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.41.

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.