Bridges Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $302,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 20,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,325,000 after acquiring an additional 5,555 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 14,189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,634,000 after acquiring an additional 5,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $115.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $111.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.11. The stock has a market cap of $50.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.43%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

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.