MML Investors Services LLC Raises Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 4.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 163,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 6,641 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $19,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 107.9% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 159.0% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CCI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.87.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $102.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.19 and a beta of 0.86. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $107.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.18. 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 data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. 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 previous year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 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.