StockNews.com Downgrades Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) to Sell

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CCI. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. KeyCorp raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.88.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.6 %

CCI stock opened at $96.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $42.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the 4th 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 bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,714,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Crown Castle by 1.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 58,903 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.