UBS Group Increases Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target to $118.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price objective boosted by UBS Group from $103.00 to $118.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CCI. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.47.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:CCI opened at $112.38 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $48.84 billion, a PE ratio of 39.85 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $114.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

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). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BOKF NA increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 931,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $98,570,000 after purchasing an additional 8,136 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,425,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,789,000 after buying an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at $1,804,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.