Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target Raised to $121.00 at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays has raised its price target for Crown Castle (CCI) from $117.00 to $121.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.03% from its previous close with an "overweight" rating.
• Other analysts like UBS and Raymond James have also upgraded their ratings and price targets for Crown Castle, reflecting a general bullish sentiment on the stock.
• Crown Castle reported earnings of $1.02 per share for the last quarter, slightly beating estimates, but its revenue dropped by 4.2% year-over-year, highlighting ongoing challenges.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) had its target price upped by Barclays from $117.00 to $121.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CCI. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $116.18.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded up $1.90 on Tuesday, hitting $106.99. The stock had a trading volume of 786,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,245,931. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $46.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.03, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $102.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.07.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.02. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,840,605 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,175,256,000 after purchasing an additional 6,341,150 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth about $305,876,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 60.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,472,921 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $570,443,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072,198 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 144.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,433,109 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $357,834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

About Crown Castle

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.