Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $102.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $101.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $96.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.13.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $90.49 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.39. The firm has a market cap of $39.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.59, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.96. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $77.01 and a 1 year high of $115.76.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 420.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership grew its stake in Crown Castle by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 103,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,950,000 after buying an additional 21,194 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 15.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,847,000 after acquiring an additional 9,552 shares in the last quarter. Country Club Bank lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 20.1% during the third quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 70,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,808,000 after acquiring an additional 11,851 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 6.1% in the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,419,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $233,413,000 after acquiring an additional 138,061 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 656,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,374,000 after purchasing an additional 21,986 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.