ClearBridge Investments Ltd Has $145.36 Million Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

ClearBridge Investments Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,601,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 493,748 shares during the period. Crown Castle comprises approximately 3.8% of ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $145,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,079,417,000 after acquiring an additional 3,371,186 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $95,167,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Crown Castle by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after acquiring an additional 747,390 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $103.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.65. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.74 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.04%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is -69.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CCI. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JMP Securities assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.00.

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.