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

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $108.75.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. Barclays raised shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $118.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 13.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,071 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 265,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,441,000 after purchasing an additional 12,948 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 24.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,476,000 after buying an additional 31,319 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Crown Castle by 17.0% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 135,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,104,000 after buying an additional 19,691 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $94.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.12. The stock has a market cap of $40.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.45 and a beta of 0.88.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.64%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

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.