Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CCI. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $97.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.13.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $87.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.73. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $77.01 and a 52-week high of $115.76.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 420.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.