SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts rate SBA Communications “Hold” overall: Of 17 covering firms, 10 recommend holding and seven recommend buying, with an average 12-month price target of $225.81 versus the stock’s recent price near $185.
• Recent operating results exceeded expectations: Quarterly EPS came in at $1.87 versus the $1.85 consensus, while revenue of $715.27 million rose 2.3% year over year and surpassed estimates.
• The company maintains strong institutional backing and pays a dividend: Institutional investors own 97.35% of shares, and SBA announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25, equivalent to $5.00 annually and a 2.7% yield.

Shares of SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $225.8125.

SBAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on SBA Communications from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on SBA Communications from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group restated a "market perform" rating on shares of SBA Communications in a report on Monday. Truist Financial lowered their price target on SBA Communications from $248.00 to $238.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of SBA Communications from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SBA Communications news, Director George R. Krouse, Jr. sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.67, for a total value of $54,801.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,554,887.04. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SBA Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of SBA Communications by 15,128.8% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 25,946,855 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,578,582,000 after purchasing an additional 25,776,475 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,996,134 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,320,412,000 after purchasing an additional 2,328,837 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of SBA Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $302,774,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in shares of SBA Communications in the second quarter worth about $228,367,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of SBA Communications by 256.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,092,612 shares of the technology company's stock worth $211,344,000 after purchasing an additional 785,850 shares during the last quarter. 97.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SBA Communications Stock Up 1.4%

SBAC stock opened at $185.07 on Tuesday. SBA Communications has a 52 week low of $162.41 and a 52 week high of $224.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.23.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. SBA Communications had a net margin of 34.51% and a negative return on equity of 20.67%. The firm had revenue of $715.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $706.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.17 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that SBA Communications will post 11.41 EPS for the current year.

SBA Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. SBA Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.88%.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation NASDAQ: SBAC is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops wireless communications infrastructure. Its core business is the leasing of space on communications towers, rooftop sites and other wireless structures to mobile network operators, broadband providers and other wireless service customers. The company also provides site development, construction and ongoing site management services to support the deployment and operation of wireless networks.

In addition to traditional macro towers, SBA offers a range of infrastructure solutions designed for dense urban and suburban markets, including small cells, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and fiber backhaul and transport services.

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