Cooke & Bieler LP Buys 511,763 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Cooke & Bieler LP increased its Crown Castle stake by 21.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 511,763 shares and lifting its holdings to 2,930,797 shares worth about $260.5 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and asset managers controlling 90.77% of Crown Castle stock. Several large investors, including Vanguard, State Street, and Invesco, also added to their positions.
• Crown Castle beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.47 consensus and revenue of $1.01 billion, while also maintaining a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share for a 4.6% annualized yield.

Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 21.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,930,797 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 511,763 shares during the quarter. Crown Castle accounts for approximately 2.7% of Cooke & Bieler LP's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 0.67% of Crown Castle worth $260,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,769,393 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,200,406,000 after buying an additional 386,733 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Crown Castle by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,728,541 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,096,587,000 after buying an additional 266,963 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Crown Castle by 33.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $621,172,000 after buying an additional 1,605,291 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,185,915 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $596,876,000 after purchasing an additional 177,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,025,433 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $535,480,000 after purchasing an additional 403,943 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. This trade represents a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CCI. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.52.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $91.42 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.96 and a 1 year high of $115.76. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $86.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.61. The firm has a market cap of $39.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 175.62%.

Crown Castle 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.

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