Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Stock Price Up 3.5% – Here’s Why

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s share price shot up 3.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $109.08 and last traded at $107.40. 2,985,973 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 4% from the average session volume of 2,862,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp upgraded Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.00.

Crown Castle Trading Down 5.8 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $43.93 billion, a PE ratio of 35.78 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.20%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is -69.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 95.2% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.