Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 228,007 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.84% of Crown Castle worth $1,119,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $525,849,000 after buying an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 5,889 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Bcwm LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,221,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 367.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI opened at $104.57 on Wednesday. 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 market capitalization of $45.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $94.75 and a 200 day moving average of $100.30. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently -69.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America started coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Eleven 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.