Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $89.27 and last traded at $89.35, with a volume of 242379 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $90.56.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup set a $128.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.00.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.3 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $102.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.55. The firm has a market cap of $38.84 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 23.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,079,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 433.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,968,959 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $470,838,000 after buying an additional 3,225,460 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4,097.8% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $246,617,000 after buying an additional 2,464,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 191.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,536 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.