Brokerages Set Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Price Target at $115.40

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $115.40.

CCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $112.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $48.72 billion, a PE ratio of 35.03 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $113.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.60.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.