Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Downgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to Hold

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $84.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior target price of $127.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CCI. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.93.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock opened at $89.26 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $100.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.65 and a beta of 0.86. 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 1 year low of $88.92 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,603 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4.4% in the second quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 2,926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.6% during the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,295 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,644,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 13.9% during the second quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,131 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,748,000 after buying an additional 3,426 shares during the period. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 46,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,028,000 after acquiring an additional 6,502 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.