Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Stock Falls 4% – Time to Sell?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on CCI shares. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 price objective on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.27.

Crown Castle Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $35.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.42 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.20.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 223.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 242.8% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 473 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, NBH Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the second quarter valued at about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.