Versor Investments LP Purchases Shares of 3,839 Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 4.4% in the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 4.2% in the third quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,899,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.87.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $102.90 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $92.48 and a one year high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.31 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

About Crown Castle

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.