SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) Coverage Initiated at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $212.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America upgraded SBA Communications from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on SBA Communications from $250.00 to $235.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on SBA Communications from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on SBA Communications from $276.00 to $227.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on SBA Communications from $266.00 to $253.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $249.08.

SBA Communications Stock Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ SBAC opened at $189.78 on Monday. SBA Communications has a 52 week low of $183.64 and a 52 week high of $258.76. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.64. The firm has a market cap of $20.39 billion, a PE ratio of 37.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.65.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $657.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $671.08 million. SBA Communications had a net margin of 20.61% and a negative return on equity of 10.75%. SBA Communications’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Research analysts expect that SBA Communications will post 12.51 EPS for the current year.

SBA Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. SBA Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 76.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SBA Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SBA Communications by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,368,209 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,763,691,000 after purchasing an additional 88,339 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of SBA Communications by 54.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,300,157 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $931,844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,524,302 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of SBA Communications by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,091,103 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $530,492,000 after acquiring an additional 153,299 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of SBA Communications by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,958,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $496,765,000 after acquiring an additional 166,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of SBA Communications by 115.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,358,037 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,838,000 after acquiring an additional 727,163 shares during the last quarter. 97.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC.