Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $106.00 to $108.00. The stock had previously closed at $93.53, but opened at $100.42. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Crown Castle shares last traded at $102.35, with a volume of 2,176,067 shares traded.

CCI has been the topic of several other research reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.12.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth $12,637,000. Probity Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 4,558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 811.5% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 49,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,501,000 after purchasing an additional 44,152 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $45,348,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $91.00 and its 200 day moving average is $101.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

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 given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.07%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.