Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Downgraded by Argus to Hold

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was downgraded by investment analysts at Argus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, FinViz reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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 reduced 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 research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.40.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.4 %

CCI stock opened at $94.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.73. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.07. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $134.09.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 20.78%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4,497.6% during the 1st 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 holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 12.3% during the 1st 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 increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 205.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.