Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target Raised to $127.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price target upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $123.00 to $127.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.47.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.6 %

Crown Castle stock opened at $112.38 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $114.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $84.72 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap of $48.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total value of $1,128,784.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,094 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at $221,573,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 95.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in Crown Castle by 68,262.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,240,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.