Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Grows Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 491,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 13,577 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle comprises approximately 1.2% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned approximately 0.11% of Crown Castle worth $55,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 3.4% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 33.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $730,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4,497.6% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 5,577 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in Crown Castle by 205.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. 90.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. StockNews.com began coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $137.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 24th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $144.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.56.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $98.41 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $104.55 and its 200 day moving average is $115.59. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.73 and a 1-year high of $164.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $42.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98 and a beta of 0.64.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.74). Crown Castle had a net margin of 23.85% and a return on equity of 23.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.36%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.88%.

Crown Castle Profile

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 85,000 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.