Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Hits New 12-Month High at $120.32

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $120.32 and last traded at $120.21, with a volume of 505184 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $118.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America increased their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.5 %

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.01. The firm has a market cap of $51.18 billion, a PE ratio of 36.81 and a beta of 0.85. 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 (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at about $221,573,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 18,200.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,651,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,642,432 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 191.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after buying an additional 1,335,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 95.8% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.