Cooke & Bieler LP Takes $120.24 Million Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,043,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $120,236,000. Cooke & Bieler LP owned approximately 0.24% of Crown Castle at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Crown Castle by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,936,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,098,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496,330 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Crown Castle by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $932,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818,910 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,046,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,208,030,000 after purchasing an additional 118,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Crown Castle by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,603 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.9 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $95.20 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $131.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $41.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.22.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CCI. Bank of America lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.73.

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.