Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $112.71.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CCI. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock traded down $1.48 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $101.44. The stock had a trading volume of 3,019,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,871,095. The company has a market cap of $44.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.97 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle has a 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. Crown Castle's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versor Investments LP raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 4,608 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $13,139,000 after acquiring an additional 4,772 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Crown Castle by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 204,237 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $18,537,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $613,900,000 after acquiring an additional 348,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,399,000 after purchasing an additional 13,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.