Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Sets New 1-Year High at $120.32

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $120.32 and last traded at $120.21, with a volume of 505184 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $118.85.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CCI. Bank of America boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Trading Down 1.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $51.18 billion, a PE ratio of 36.81 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day moving average of $111.09 and a 200-day moving average of $104.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.31%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,990,991,000 after acquiring an additional 673,243 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after purchasing an additional 834,198 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,297,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,394 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,518,000 after buying an additional 67,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,547,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $523,773,000 after buying an additional 632,398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.