Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com cut shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.71.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $101.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $102.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $44.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.97 and a beta of 0.93.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. 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 yield of 4.19%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is -58.18%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $613,900,000 after acquiring an additional 348,296 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,102 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,734,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $328,000. Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 36,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,311,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 385,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,018,000 after acquiring an additional 167,707 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.