Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.92 EPS

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92), Yahoo Finance reports. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.78% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle updated its FY24 guidance to $6.85-$6.97 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 6.850-6.970 EPS.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $94.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $105.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.07. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $134.09.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 214.1% during the 4th quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.40.

About Crown Castle

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.