Argus Lowers Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) to Hold

Argus lowered shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CCI. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $113.57.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CCI opened at $95.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $84.72 and a 1-year high of $128.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $104.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.37.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released 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 net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.58%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 115.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $724,000 after buying an additional 4,328 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 3,818 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,879,000 after purchasing an additional 4,255 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 22.4% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,257 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 11,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,810 shares in the last quarter. 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.