Cooke & Bieler LP Has $293.91 Million Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Cooke & Bieler LP cut its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,819,836 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 19,200 shares during the period. Crown Castle comprises approximately 2.9% of Cooke & Bieler LP's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Cooke & Bieler LP owned approximately 0.65% of Crown Castle worth $293,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,119,225,000 after purchasing an additional 228,007 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $557,662,000 after acquiring an additional 58,903 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on CCI shares. Argus upgraded shares of Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $113.06.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.9%

Crown Castle stock traded up $0.95 on Friday, hitting $105.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,210,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,941,394. The firm has a market cap of $45.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $101.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.65. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 78.12% and a negative return on equity of 164.40%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is -39.50%.

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.