Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $113.00.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Crown Castle from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $91.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,990,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,351,777. The company's 50-day moving average is $96.96 and its 200-day moving average is $105.57. The firm has a market cap of $39.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.28 and a beta of 0.87. 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.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm's revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,203,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3,672.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 415 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the second quarter worth about $236,000. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Bcwm LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bcwm LLC now owns 46,712 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.