Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Acquires 22,941 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 592.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,941 shares during the quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $3,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,094 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter worth $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,644 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,261,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after buying an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded down $2.54 on Friday, reaching $108.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,873,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,637,974. The firm has a market cap of $47.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.62 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $114.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.41. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.38 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.75%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is 221.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.47.

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.