Brokerages Set Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) PT at $116.80

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $116.87.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $106.58 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.79 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $92.48 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.87%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 107.9% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.