Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Given New $125.00 Price Target at KeyCorp

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) had its target price raised by KeyCorp from $122.00 to $125.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.94.

Crown Castle Stock Down 2.0%

Crown Castle stock traded down $2.31 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $111.60. The company had a trading volume of 3,419,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,744,282. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $102.19 and a 200-day moving average of $98.48. The firm has a market cap of $48.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.46, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,840,605 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,175,256,000 after buying an additional 6,341,150 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth $561,714,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $305,876,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 60.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,472,921 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $570,443,000 after buying an additional 2,072,198 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.