Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Sets New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $106.00 to $98.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Crown Castle traded as low as $73.52 and last traded at $75.0030, with a volume of 608717 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $74.90.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.92.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 672,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,086,000 after buying an additional 60,497 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in Crown Castle by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,930,797 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,460,000 after acquiring an additional 511,763 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 262,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,288,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,052,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,551,000 after acquiring an additional 128,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,506,580 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $489,370,000 after acquiring an additional 54,078 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.63.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 215.74%.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.