TD Cowen Cuts Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target to $123.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by TD Cowen from $127.00 to $123.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock traded down $3.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $111.75. 3,863,005 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,638,607. The stock has a market cap of $48.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.93 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.05.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced 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). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.60%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 229.30%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related 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 value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,990,991,000 after acquiring an additional 673,243 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $603,518,000 after purchasing an additional 67,072 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,035,561 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $387,333,000 after purchasing an additional 391,127 shares during the period. ClearBridge Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 19.4% in the first quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 2,632,855 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $278,635,000 after purchasing an additional 428,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $251,962,000 after buying an additional 1,261,536 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by 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.