StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

CCI has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $153.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Cowen increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $137.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, December 16th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $230.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $152.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $159.36.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $130.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.75 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $140.04 and its 200 day moving average is $141.55. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $121.71 and a 12 month high of $199.97.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.83). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.58% and a net margin of 23.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 162.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 4,497.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,577 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 205.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.27% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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Crown Castle, Inc is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the provision of access to wireless infrastructure via long-term contacts. It operates through the Towers and Fiber segments. The Towers segment offers access, including space or capacity towers dispersed throughout the United States.