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

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $98.5222.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Crown Castle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $91.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.69, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle has a one year low of $75.96 and a one year high of $115.76. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.66.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.42 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. The business’s revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. Analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 175.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 25.8% during the third quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 103,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,950,000 after acquiring an additional 21,194 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 15.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,847,000 after acquiring an additional 9,552 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.5% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 656,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $63,374,000 after acquiring an additional 21,986 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,052,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,551,000 after acquiring an additional 128,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 30.9% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 197,804 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,027,000 after acquiring an additional 46,693 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.