Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $104.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

CCI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James restated an outperform rating and set a $126.00 price objective (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $113.53.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $96.66 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.00 billion, a PE ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $98.46 and its 200 day moving average is $104.28. Crown Castle has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $119.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,609,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,990,991,000 after acquiring an additional 673,243 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,078,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,203,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,382 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,375,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,310,559,000 after purchasing an additional 834,198 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Crown Castle by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,260,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,297,147,000 after buying an additional 1,126,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Crown Castle by 42.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,083,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $651,910,000 after buying an additional 2,121,603 shares during the period. 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.