Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Upgraded by Barclays to Overweight Rating

Barclays upgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Barclays currently has $104.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior target price of $117.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.00.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $85.46 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $37.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.31 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $98.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.33%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 221.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,079,417,000 after buying an additional 3,371,186 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 433.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,968,959 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $470,838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225,460 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 191.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,644 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 13,271.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 973,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,449,000 after purchasing an additional 965,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Crown Castle by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after purchasing an additional 747,390 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.