Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Equal Weight Rating

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $105.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $85.00.

CCI has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays upgraded Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $104.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.29.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $102.91 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $44.73 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently -69.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $470,838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225,460 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.