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 currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $112.71.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CCI shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities raised their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $99.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.53 billion, a PE ratio of 35.45 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $100.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.99.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted 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). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 over the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,840,605 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,175,256,000 after purchasing an additional 6,341,150 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $561,714,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter worth approximately $305,876,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 60.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,472,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $570,443,000 after buying an additional 2,072,198 shares during 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.