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

Key Points

• Crown Castle carries a consensus analyst rating of Moderate Buy from 21 analysts with an average 12‑month price target of $99.34, though several major firms trimmed targets into the mid‑$90s while Raymond James raised its target to $108 and called it a strong‑buy.
• The company beat Q1 expectations with EPS of $1.02 (vs. $0.47 expected) and $1.01B in revenue, and set FY2026 guidance of 4.38–4.49 EPS versus analyst estimates around 4.22.
• Crown Castle pays a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 (annualized $4.25) for a 4.8% yield

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $99.3368.

A number of research firms have commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $101.00 to $91.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE CCI opened at $89.38 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $85.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.16. Crown Castle has a one year low of $75.96 and a one year high of $115.76.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is presently 175.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.