Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 55,117 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 601,740 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,117 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $54,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Crown Castle by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after acquiring an additional 747,390 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,079,417,000 after buying an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,105,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,434,229,000 after buying an additional 151,990 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $613,900,000 after buying an additional 348,296 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $603,592,000 after buying an additional 203,442 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $128.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upgraded Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $104.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.75.

Crown Castle Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $91.29 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92. 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 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.