SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) Hits New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $162.21 and last traded at $162.8250, with a volume of 479576 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $166.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of SBA Communications from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of SBA Communications from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of SBA Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group lowered shares of SBA Communications from a “market perform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of SBA Communications in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SBA Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $224.87.

SBA Communications Stock Down 1.6%

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $181.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.99.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $715.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $706.01 million. SBA Communications had a negative return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 34.51%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that SBA Communications Corporation will post 11.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SBA Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. SBA Communications’s payout ratio is presently 53.88%.

Insider Transactions at SBA Communications

In other news, Director George R. Krouse, Jr. sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.67, for a total transaction of $54,801.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,554,887.04. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SBA Communications

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in SBA Communications by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,085,112 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $594,655,000 after purchasing an additional 16,153 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 47.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,615,054 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $277,967,000 after buying an additional 522,442 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of SBA Communications by 3.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,612,785 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $277,567,000 after acquiring an additional 46,620 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of SBA Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $302,774,000. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in shares of SBA Communications during the second quarter worth about $228,367,000. Institutional investors own 97.35% of the company’s stock.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates wireless communications infrastructure. The company provides the sites and facilities that wireless service providers use to support cellular networks, including traditional macro towers, small cells and distributed antenna systems.

SBA’s primary business is leasing space on its communications infrastructure to wireless carriers and other communications companies. It also develops, acquires and manages wireless sites, helping customers expand network coverage and capacity.