Mechanics Financial Corp Has $135,000 Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Mechanics Financial Corp increased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Mechanics Financial Corp’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% during the third quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,747,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.29.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $95.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,052,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,862,003. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $102.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.34. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.37. The stock has a market cap of $41.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.52%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

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.