Wells Fargo & Company Raises Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target to $105.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $100.00 to $105.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of 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 increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $116.47.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI traded up $0.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $112.45. 2,336,238 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,637,112. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $114.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.19 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently 229.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 83.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 384,805 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $45,649,000 after buying an additional 175,086 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 131.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,731 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 5.4% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 71,302 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,459,000 after purchasing an additional 3,665 shares during the period. Finally, KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 16,598 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,969,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.