Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $89.27 and last traded at $89.35, with a volume of 242379 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $90.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $105.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.00.

Crown Castle Trading Down 1.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $38.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $102.52 and a 200-day moving average of $106.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.00%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 221.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 24.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,476,000 after acquiring an additional 31,319 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,592,000 after buying an additional 203,442 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Business Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter worth $620,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 3,111.6% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 13,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,581,000 after acquiring an additional 12,913 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after purchasing an additional 747,390 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is 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.