Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $112.41.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CCI shares. Barclays upped their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. New Street Research raised shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE CCI opened at $102.30 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.28 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $101.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.49.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -58.18%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.