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

Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 163.9% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on CCI shares. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America increased their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $115.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $50.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $111.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

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

Crown Castle Profile

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.