Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.07.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down from $85.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.6%

CCI stock opened at $67.53 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $73.77 and its 200 day moving average is $80.89. The stock has a market cap of $28.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.94. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $65.32 and a 1-year high of $100.50.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.18. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.74%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Front Row Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 9,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Crown Castle by 55.6% during the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its position in Crown Castle by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 53,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.0% during the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 7,882 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $641,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle Inc (NYSE: CCI) is a communications infrastructure company that owns, operates and leases wireless communications assets in the United States. Its infrastructure helps wireless carriers, government agencies and other customers expand network coverage and capacity for voice, data and other wireless services.

The company’s portfolio includes cell towers and fiber-based infrastructure. Crown Castle provides space on its towers for wireless equipment and offers fiber solutions that support small-cell networks, distributed antenna systems and other high-capacity communications applications.