B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 68,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $8,125,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Crown Castle by 191.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 13,271.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 973,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,449,000 after purchasing an additional 965,907 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $104.45 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $111.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $45.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.04 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $92.48 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given 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 is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Crown Castle Company 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.