Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Cut to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $84.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior target price of $127.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.93.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.8 %

CCI opened at $89.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $39.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.15. Crown Castle has a twelve month low of $88.65 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.96%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 9.0% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 12,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 0.3% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 68,854 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,167,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,709 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after buying an additional 1,315 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,038,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is 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.