The Goldman Sachs Group Initiates Coverage on Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)

Investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.15% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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, April 18th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $95.28 on Monday. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $119.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $98.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.46. The company has a market cap of $41.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly 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). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 164.0% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Crown Castle

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.