Wells Fargo & Company Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $85.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $90.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 8.37% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CCI. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $97.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.86.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $78.43 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $34.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.96. Crown Castle has a one year low of $77.01 and a one year high of $115.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $86.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.13.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 124.2% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,034,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445,237 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in Crown Castle by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 591.8% in the 3rd 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 valued at $431,418,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 422.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $318,258,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895,756 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

About Crown Castle

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.