Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Stock Price Down 1.9%

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s share price traded down 1.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $115.39 and last traded at $115.49. 323,796 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 2,630,260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $111.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The business’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 159.0% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 163.9% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.