Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target Raised to $105.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price target raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $100.00 to $105.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on CCI. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $110.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.20. 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 $47.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.07 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 5.68%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 221.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after buying an additional 1,335,644 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 68,262.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.