Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Price Target Increased to $127.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) had its price objective boosted by Jefferies Financial Group from $123.00 to $127.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

CCI has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.29.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $111.75 on Thursday. Crown Castle has a 12-month low of $84.72 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The company has a market cap of $48.56 billion, a PE ratio of 40.93 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $114.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.05.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 19.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.60%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 229.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 159.0% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 163.9% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors 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.