Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CCI. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.88.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $96.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.48%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,672,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $525,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $95,167,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.