Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Shares Gap Up to $93.05

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $93.05, but opened at $95.69. Crown Castle shares last traded at $93.56, with a volume of 424,456 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CCI. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.40.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $105.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The company has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a PE ratio of 26.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 21.47% and a return on equity of 21.95%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 180.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. United Services Automobile Association boosted its position in Crown Castle by 23.1% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 13,411 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,516 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 117,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,852,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 8,611.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 703,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,006,000 after buying an additional 695,163 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $5,005,000. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 82.3% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 36,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,205,000 after acquiring an additional 16,687 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.