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

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $84.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust's stock, down from their prior price objective of $127.00.

CCI has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.93.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI traded down $1.50 on Thursday, reaching $89.26. 2,463,084 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,716,386. Crown Castle has a fifty-two week low of $88.92 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $38.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.65 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $100.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.19.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $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 lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 433.8% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 3,225,460 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $246,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,094 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Crown Castle by 191.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $195,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 13,271.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 973,185 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $115,449,000 after buying an additional 965,907 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.