Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target Raised to $112.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its target price increased by Barclays from $111.00 to $112.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CCI. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $113.29.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $95.47 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $104.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $128.27. The firm has a market cap of $41.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.56%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $581,503,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,603 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 217.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,058,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $281,439,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,272 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,134,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $932,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,818,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,582,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.