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

Crown Castle International (NYSE:CCI – Get Rating) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on CCI. Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle International from $204.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Crown Castle International from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, June 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle International from €222.00 ($233.68) to €214.00 ($225.26) in a research report on Friday, March 18th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle International from $184.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle International from $215.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $202.71.

NYSE:CCI traded up $3.51 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $171.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,604,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,871,660. Crown Castle International has a one year low of $153.70 and a one year high of $209.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $74.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.07 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $180.60 and its 200-day moving average is $182.78.

Crown Castle International (NYSE:CCI – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.03. Crown Castle International had a net margin of 22.12% and a return on equity of 17.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown Castle International will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Crown Castle International news, COO Christopher Levendos sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.79, for a total value of $2,120,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,717 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,920.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.02, for a total transaction of $955,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 73,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,072,443.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,261,230. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle International by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,909,352 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,505,466,000 after buying an additional 1,015,352 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle International by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 37,010,877 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,725,650,000 after purchasing an additional 4,919,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Crown Castle International by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,925,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,862,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,426 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Crown Castle International by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,940,782 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,311,853,000 after purchasing an additional 231,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle International by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,441,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,758,348,000 after purchasing an additional 337,741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

About Crown Castle International (Get Rating)

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 80,000 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.

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