Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.88.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of CCI stock opened at $96.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.21. Crown Castle has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,672,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,119,225,000 after purchasing an additional 228,007 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Crown Castle by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $557,662,000 after buying an additional 58,903 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.