Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CCI. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $118.00 to $102.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities started coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Crown Castle from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $110.13.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI traded down $2.80 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $89.63. The company had a trading volume of 2,251,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,222,819. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $38.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78 and a beta of 0.87. Crown Castle has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company's 50-day moving average is $95.04 and its 200-day moving average is $105.34.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.98%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 107.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the third quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors 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.