Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Stock Falls 4% – What’s Next?

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) traded down 4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $86.05 and last traded at $84.3350. Approximately 372,017 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 3,831,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 target price on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.27.

Crown Castle Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.51 and its 200 day moving average is $82.24. The company has a market cap of $37.82 billion, a PE ratio of 46.78, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.94.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.02). Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 42.11% and a net margin of 20.12%. The firm had revenue of $995.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.40 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 223.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 242.8% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 473 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 106.3% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle Inc (NYSE: CCI) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and leases communications infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.

The company’s infrastructure has historically included approximately 40,000 cell towers, about 90,000 route miles of fiber and a large portfolio of small-cell installations.