UBS Group Upgrades Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) to “Buy”

UBS Group upgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $118.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

CCI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $118.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.12.

Crown Castle Trading Up 8.5 %

NYSE:CCI opened at $103.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $91.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.32. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,079,417,000 after acquiring an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 433.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,968,959 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $470,838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Crown Castle by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.