Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Upgraded by Raymond James to Strong-Buy Rating

Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Raymond James currently has $122.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $128.00.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Scotiabank cut their target price on Crown Castle from $118.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $128.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays upgraded Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.12.

Crown Castle Stock Up 8.5 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $103.20 on Friday. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market cap of $44.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.07%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 221.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after purchasing an additional 747,390 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Crown Castle by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,119,225,000 after purchasing an additional 228,007 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $561,714,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.