SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on SBA Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a neutral rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of SBA Communications from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $230.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of SBA Communications from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of SBA Communications from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of SBA Communications from $232.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SBA Communications has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $241.75.

SBA Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of SBA Communications stock opened at $240.53 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $224.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.34. SBA Communications has a twelve month low of $183.64 and a twelve month high of $258.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.67.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by ($0.56). The company had revenue of $660.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $665.21 million. SBA Communications had a negative return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 19.22%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.24 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SBA Communications will post 12.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SBA Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. SBA Communications’s payout ratio is 76.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Donald Day sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.86, for a total value of $364,290.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,998 shares in the company, valued at $1,213,814.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Jeffrey Stoops sold 49,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.01, for a total transaction of $11,048,327.65. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 109,583 shares in the company, valued at $24,328,521.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Donald Day sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.86, for a total transaction of $364,290.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,213,814.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,590 shares of company stock valued at $11,483,981. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,368,209 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,763,691,000 after buying an additional 88,339 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of SBA Communications by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,300,157 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $931,844,000 after buying an additional 1,524,302 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 13.4% during the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,973,867 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $387,470,000 after purchasing an additional 233,179 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in SBA Communications by 15.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,190,288 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $233,654,000 after buying an additional 159,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in SBA Communications by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 986,487 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $213,773,000 after purchasing an additional 33,507 shares in the last quarter. 97.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC.