Houston, Texas-based Crown Castle International (CCI) is a real estate investment trust that specializes in communications infrastructure, explains growth and income specialist John Dobosz, editor of Forbes Dividend Investor.
The company services to wireless carriers through 40,000 cell towers, 70,000 small cell nodes, and 80,000 miles of fiber.
The cell towers segment accounts for 70% of the company’s $5.8 billion in annual revenue. Funds from operations (FFO), the most relevant performance metric for REITs, are expected to rise 8.8% to $6.08 per share this year, and to grow 10.5% in 2021.
FFO grew 5.2% last year. In the most recent quarterly report on October 21, funds from operations exceeded forecasts while revenue was lighter than expected.
Management upped profit guidance for the year ahead, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.33 per share, a 10.8% hike from $1.20 per share last quarter. The ex-dividend date is six weeks away on December 14.
At least one insider is bullish: J. Landis “Lanny” Martin, who sits on Crown Castle’s board of directors, gobbled up almost $1.3 million worth of CCI recently at $161.19 per share. In addition, Raymond James recently raised its price target on CCI to $172 per share.
