SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $224.87.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of SBA Communications in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of SBA Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of SBA Communications from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of SBA Communications from $245.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of SBA Communications in a report on Tuesday, August 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at SBA Communications

In related news, Director George R. Krouse, Jr. sold 300 shares of SBA Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.67, for a total value of $54,801.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,512 shares in the company, valued at $1,554,887.04. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SBA Communications

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in SBA Communications by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,085,112 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $594,655,000 after purchasing an additional 16,153 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in SBA Communications by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,034,920 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $393,615,000 after buying an additional 179,591 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of SBA Communications by 47.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,615,054 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $277,967,000 after buying an additional 522,442 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of SBA Communications by 3.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,612,785 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $277,567,000 after buying an additional 46,620 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of SBA Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $302,774,000. 97.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SBA Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SBAC opened at $166.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.99. SBA Communications has a 12 month low of $162.41 and a 12 month high of $224.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $181.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $192.20.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $715.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.01 million. SBA Communications had a negative return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 34.51%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.17 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SBA Communications will post 11.4 EPS for the current year.

SBA Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. SBA Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 53.88%.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates wireless communications infrastructure. The company provides the sites and facilities that wireless service providers use to support cellular networks, including traditional macro towers, small cells and distributed antenna systems.

SBA’s primary business is leasing space on its communications infrastructure to wireless carriers and other communications companies. It also develops, acquires and manages wireless sites, helping customers expand network coverage and capacity.