Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) to Hold

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was downgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $84.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $127.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 7.45% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays raised their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.93.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI opened at $90.76 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.31. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $88.92 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18 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 issued 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 during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Crown Castle by 107.9% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 3,672.7% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other 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.