Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 12,948 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 265,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 12,948 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Crown Castle worth $31,441,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 39.2% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 29,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 8,328 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at about $127,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,346 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at about $655,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:CCI opened at $108.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.43 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.48 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $113.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle 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.