JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target to $124.00

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $115.00 to $124.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Raymond James reissued an outperform rating and issued a $126.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $115.40.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $114.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $112.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.16. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $49.88 billion, a PE ratio of 35.87 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.45%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 159.0% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.