Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target Raised to $115.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $110.00 to $115.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CCI. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James reiterated an outperform rating and set a $126.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, June 14th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $109.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $47.42 billion, a PE ratio of 34.10 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.95. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.74%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in 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. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 164.0% in the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.