Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $100.0235.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $101.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, December 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 124.2% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,034,013,000 after buying an additional 6,445,237 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,536,214,000 after buying an additional 3,953,685 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 591.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $431,418,000 after buying an additional 3,824,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 422.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $318,258,000 after acquiring an additional 2,895,756 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $88.69 on Wednesday. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $77.01 and a 52-week high of $115.76. The company has a market capitalization of $38.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.03.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.