Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $115.40.

Several brokerages have recently commented on CCI. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $111.48 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $113.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.55. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 159.0% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.