Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Stock Falls 4% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Crown Castle shares fell 4% to about $84.34 in mid-day trading, with volume substantially below the stock’s average daily level.
• Recent earnings missed expectations: quarterly EPS was $0.67 versus a $0.69 consensus, while revenue declined 7.2% year over year to $995 million.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and average price target of $94.27, although several firms recently lowered their targets. Crown Castle also offers a $4.25 annualized dividend, yielding approximately 5%.

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) shares dropped 4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $86.05 and last traded at $84.3350. 372,017 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 3,831,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Crown Castle to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 price objective on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.27.

Crown Castle Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $35.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.42 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's fifty day moving average is $74.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.20.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $995.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently 223.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the business'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 transaction of $113,835.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at $388,025.57. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter valued at $3,326,154,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,023,394 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,743,562,000 after acquiring an additional 211,633 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,463,182 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,094,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828,065 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Crown Castle by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,325,747 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $514,320,000 after acquiring an additional 144,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $456,897,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle Inc NYSE: CCI is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and leases communications infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.

The company's infrastructure has historically included approximately 40,000 cell towers, about 90,000 route miles of fiber and a large portfolio of small-cell installations.

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