Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target Increased to $127.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price objective raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $123.00 to $127.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America increased their price target on 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 target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $112.38 on Thursday. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $48.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.85 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $114.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.57%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 13.0% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,869 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.5% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,899,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.