Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target to $105.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $100.00 to $105.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

CCI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE CCI opened at $112.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.14. Crown Castle has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $48.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.85 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after buying an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth about $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 191.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.