Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $111.3529.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CCI shares. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $127.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.08, for a total transaction of $2,942,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 65,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,431,203.68. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the second quarter worth $629,431,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3,051.5% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,472,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $562,221,000 after buying an additional 5,299,155 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 591.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $431,418,000 after buying an additional 3,824,778 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 33.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,172,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605,291 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $149,661,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI opened at $88.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.58 billion, a PE ratio of -8.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average is $90.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.99. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.08. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 95.37% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.230-4.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently -39.98%.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.