SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) Stock Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $224.64.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of SBA Communications in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on SBA Communications from $219.00 to $208.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of SBA Communications in a report on Monday, August 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on SBA Communications from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $271.00 price objective on shares of SBA Communications in a report on Monday, October 5th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director George R. Krouse, Jr. sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.67, for a total value of $54,801.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,554,887.04. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in SBA Communications by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,216,741 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $835,305,000 after purchasing an additional 97,477 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in SBA Communications by 47.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,615,054 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $277,967,000 after buying an additional 522,442 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in SBA Communications by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,612,785 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $277,567,000 after buying an additional 46,620 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in SBA Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $228,367,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of SBA Communications by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,005,366 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $173,033,000 after buying an additional 295,727 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.35% of the company’s stock.

SBA Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ SBAC traded up $2.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.35. 635,265 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,239,080. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $179.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.97. SBA Communications has a fifty-two week low of $156.60 and a fifty-two week high of $224.46.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The technology company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.10. SBA Communications had a negative return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $713.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $724.07 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that SBA Communications will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

SBA Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. SBA Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.94%.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates wireless communications infrastructure. Its primary business is leasing space on its communications towers and other sites to wireless carriers and other customers that need to install network equipment. The company also provides site development services, including helping customers identify, acquire, construct and manage locations for wireless infrastructure. Founded in 1989, SBA serves customers in the United States and several international markets, including countries in Central and South America and Africa.