Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $94.27

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.27.

A number of research firms have recently commented on CCI. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Crown Castle to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 price objective on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Citizens Jmp dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE CCI opened at $88.63 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $37.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $75.78 and its 200-day moving average is $82.26. Crown Castle has a 12-month low of $65.32 and a 12-month high of $95.07.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value 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 trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth $3,326,154,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,023,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,743,562,000 after acquiring an additional 211,633 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,463,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,094,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828,065 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,325,747 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $514,320,000 after acquiring an additional 144,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the second quarter worth $456,897,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.