Lincoln National Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Lincoln National Corp lifted its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,156 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 473 shares during the quarter. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,526,000 after buying an additional 1,496,330 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Crown Castle by 21.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $932,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,818,910 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 42.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $651,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,568,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $512,467,000 after purchasing an additional 155,543 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $97.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $101.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.63. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $119.60. The company has a market capitalization of $42.28 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.64.

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.