Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.27.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Crown Castle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Front Row Advisors LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 9,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 53,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors raised its position in Crown Castle by 2.0% in the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 7,882 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.1%

Crown Castle stock opened at $88.63 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $37.71 billion, a PE ratio of 46.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $65.32 and a 12 month high of $95.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.26.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.12% and a negative return on equity of 42.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 4.40 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 223.68%.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle Inc (NYSE: CCI) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and leases communications infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.

The company’s infrastructure has historically included approximately 40,000 cell towers, about 90,000 route miles of fiber and a large portfolio of small-cell installations.