Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) in a report published on Monday. The firm issued a buy rating and a $115.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CCI. Citizens Jmp upgraded Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. New Street Research upgraded Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of CCI opened at $102.92 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.94 and a 200-day moving average of $97.46.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 10.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,840,605 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,175,256,000 after buying an additional 6,341,150 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,387,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,229,260,000 after purchasing an additional 538,049 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 58,903 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Company 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.