Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Shares Gap Up to $93.05

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $93.05, but opened at $95.69. Crown Castle shares last traded at $93.56, with a volume of 424,456 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.73.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a market cap of $41.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $104.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Riverview Trust Co increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 108.5% during the third quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.