UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Stock Price

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price target reduced by research analysts at UBS Group from $127.00 to $116.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. UBS Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 33.07% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CCI. Citigroup cut their price target on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $117.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.83.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $87.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $37.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.96. Crown Castle has a fifty-two week low of $83.21 and a fifty-two week high of $115.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $88.78 and a 200 day moving average of $95.42.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 95.37% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 65,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,431,203.68. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Country Club Bank lifted its position in Crown Castle by 20.1% in the third quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 70,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,808,000 after purchasing an additional 11,851 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,578,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 213.8% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 11,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 7,598 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3,051.5% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 5,299,155 shares during the period. Finally, ARS Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 22.7% during the third quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 95,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,233,000 after acquiring an additional 17,690 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.