Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $96.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. New Street Research downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $112.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.13.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $90.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.59, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.96. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $77.01 and a 52-week high of $115.76. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.46.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 420.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. This trade represents a 34.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 74,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at $234,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.