Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target to $123.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price objective cut by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $126.00 to $123.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 31.78% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.40.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $93.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,085,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,755,897. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $134.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $105.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.95% and a net margin of 21.47%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.4% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 33.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4,497.6% during the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 5,577 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 12.3% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 205.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the period. 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.