Brokerages Set Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Price Target at $112.41

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $112.71.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research raised shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Crown Castle by 10.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $561,714,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at $305,876,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 60.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,472,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $570,443,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072,198 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $101.44 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.97 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $102.06 and a 200-day moving average of $97.53. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -58.18%.

About Crown Castle

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.