Sanford C. Bernstein Upgrades Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) to “Strong-Buy”

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was upgraded by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on CCI. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $97.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research lowered Crown Castle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.13.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $90.07 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.53. Crown Castle has a one year low of $77.01 and a one year high of $115.76. The stock has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.96.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. This represents a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. This represents a 15.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,769,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,200,406,000 after purchasing an additional 386,733 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Crown Castle by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,239,559 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,976,430,000 after purchasing an additional 511,018 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,986,852 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,012,000 after buying an additional 380,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,027,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,156,972,000 after buying an additional 184,533 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.