Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Reaches New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Crown Castle shares hit a new 52-week low, falling to $73.52 after Citigroup cut its price target from $106 to $98, though it maintained a buy rating.
• Analyst views remain mixed: Crown Castle has an average “Moderate Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $95.92, with recent target cuts from RBC and JPMorgan alongside increases from KeyCorp and BMO.
• The REIT pays a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, or $4.25 annually, yielding about 5.7%; institutional investors own approximately 90.77% of its stock.

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $106.00 to $98.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Crown Castle traded as low as $73.52 and last traded at $75.0030, with a volume of 608717 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $74.90.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CCI. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $95.92.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Crown Castle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,769,393 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $6,200,406,000 after acquiring an additional 386,733 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,239,559 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,976,430,000 after purchasing an additional 511,018 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,986,852 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,243,012,000 after purchasing an additional 380,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,463,182 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,094,691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,065 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $32.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average of $84.38 and a 200-day moving average of $85.72.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.74%.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.