SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $244.08.

SBAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of SBA Communications from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of SBA Communications from $228.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of SBA Communications from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com upgraded SBA Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on SBA Communications from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th.

SBA Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:SBAC opened at $238.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $226.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.97. SBA Communications has a 1 year low of $183.64 and a 1 year high of $258.76. The stock has a market cap of $25.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.79, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.67.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by ($0.56). SBA Communications had a negative return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 19.22%. The company had revenue of $660.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $665.21 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that SBA Communications will post 12.53 earnings per share for the current year.

SBA Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. SBA Communications’s payout ratio is currently 76.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Jeffrey Stoops sold 49,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.01, for a total value of $11,048,327.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 109,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,328,521.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other SBA Communications news, Director George R. Krouse, Jr. sold 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.58, for a total transaction of $71,363.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,084 shares in the company, valued at $1,775,084.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Jeffrey Stoops sold 49,765 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.01, for a total transaction of $11,048,327.65. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 109,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,328,521.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,590 shares of company stock worth $11,483,981. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SBA Communications

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of SBA Communications by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,300,157 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $931,844,000 after buying an additional 1,524,302 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in SBA Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $134,738,000. Long Pond Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of SBA Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $83,687,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in SBA Communications by 111.8% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 734,795 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $186,410,000 after purchasing an additional 387,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in SBA Communications by 500.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 369,037 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,375,000 after purchasing an additional 307,530 shares during the period. 97.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SBA Communications Company Profile

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC.