The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 161,921 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,448,398 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 161,921 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $361,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 672,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,086,000 after acquiring an additional 60,497 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in Crown Castle by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,930,797 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,460,000 after purchasing an additional 511,763 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in Crown Castle by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,052,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,551,000 after purchasing an additional 128,212 shares during the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 262,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,288,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,506,580 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $489,370,000 after purchasing an additional 54,078 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI opened at $74.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $84.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.63. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.52 and a fifty-two week high of $112.75.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 215.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut their price target on Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.92.

About Crown Castle

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.