Allianz SE Purchases New Shares in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,687 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $331,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,079,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $95,167,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,476,470,000 after purchasing an additional 747,390 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CCI shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp raised Crown Castle from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.00.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.0 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $103.61 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.51. The company has a market capitalization of $45.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.74 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -69.71%.

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.