Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $100.1333.

A number of research firms have weighed in on CCI. Wolfe Research cut shares of Crown Castle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,174,300.22. This represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 257.7% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 7,729 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 5,568 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,585,857 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $140,950,000 after purchasing an additional 164,986 shares during the period. Bayban purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. SHP Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $210,000. Finally, Reflection Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.5%

Crown Castle stock opened at $87.44 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.86. Crown Castle has a twelve month low of $77.01 and a twelve month high of $115.76. The company has a market cap of $38.13 billion, a PE ratio of 86.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.96.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 420.79%.

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.