Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Hits New 12-Month Low - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Crown Castle shares fell to a new 52-week low of $66.17, well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $74.46 and $81.47, respectively.
• Despite recent analyst price-target cuts, Wall Street maintains a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average target of $94.37, implying substantial upside from the current price.
• The REIT reported quarterly earnings of $0.69 per share, beating estimates, and declared a $1.0625 quarterly dividend yielding about 6.4%; however, its 215.74% payout ratio raises questions about dividend sustainability.

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $66.17 and last traded at $66.3820, with a volume of 151205 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $67.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective 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, July 23rd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.37.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.5%

The stock has a market cap of $28.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.47.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.05 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is 215.74%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,953,685 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth $3,326,154,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Crown Castle by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,023,394 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,743,562,000 after acquiring an additional 211,633 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 15.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,159,803 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $636,292,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,247 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle Inc NYSE: CCI is a communications infrastructure company that owns, operates and leases wireless communications assets in the United States. Its infrastructure helps wireless carriers, government agencies and other customers expand network coverage and capacity for voice, data and other wireless services.

The company's portfolio includes cell towers and fiber-based infrastructure. Crown Castle provides space on its towers for wireless equipment and offers fiber solutions that support small-cell networks, distributed antenna systems and other high-capacity communications applications.

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