National Bank of Canada FI Buys 391,127 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 391,127 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle makes up about 0.5% of National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $387,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 164.0% during the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.53.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:CCI traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $114.18. 354,002 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,647,847. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $119.50. The company has a market capitalization of $49.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.66 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company has a fifty day moving average of $106.77 and a 200 day moving average of $103.31.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.63%.

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.