Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $76.40 and last traded at $76.1060, with a volume of 551328 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $78.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $101.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Crown Castle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.86.

Crown Castle Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.95. The stock has a market cap of $33.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.11, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.96.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 420.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 5,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 25.8% in the third quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 103,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,950,000 after purchasing an additional 21,194 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 15.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,847,000 after buying an additional 9,552 shares during the period. Country Club Bank boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 20.1% during the third quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 70,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,808,000 after buying an additional 11,851 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,419,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $233,413,000 after buying an additional 138,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 656,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $63,374,000 after buying an additional 21,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.