MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH Acquires 108,296 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 22.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 589,838 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 108,296 shares during the period. Crown Castle makes up 1.9% of MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH owned about 0.14% of Crown Castle worth $57,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 56.4% during the second quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 11,123 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,087,000 after buying an additional 4,013 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 137.9% in the second quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 4,673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 44.5% in the second quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,709 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 4.3% in the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust increased its stake in Crown Castle by 3.2% in the second quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 19,263 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price objective (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $112.02. 3,511,077 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,916,330. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.68 billion, a PE ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.59%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.