Cooke & Bieler LP Buys 138,061 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,419,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 138,061 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle comprises about 2.4% of Cooke & Bieler LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 0.56% of Crown Castle worth $233,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 7.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its stake in Crown Castle by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,742 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 4,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth $226,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $86.58 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.21 and a 1 year high of $115.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $88.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.96.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -39.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $101.00 price target (down from $104.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.75.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.