Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $1.86 Million Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,115 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 126.1% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Mechanics Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 1,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,553,877 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $524,561,000 after purchasing an additional 639,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FFT Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Argus lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.29.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $97.39 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a PE ratio of 30.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $119.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.49.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.63%.

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.