Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI - Get Rating) have been given an average rating of "Hold" by the seventeen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $196.06.

CCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Crown Castle International from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 19th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Crown Castle International from $219.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Crown Castle International from $189.00 to $166.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 12th. StockNews.com raised Crown Castle International from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Crown Castle International from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $191.00 to $200.00 in a report on Thursday, June 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle International

In other Crown Castle International news, Director Kevin A. Stephens acquired 699 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $173.60 per share, with a total value of $121,346.40. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,858,040.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle International

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle International by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,909,352 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $10,505,466,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,352 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle International by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 37,010,877 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,725,650,000 after acquiring an additional 4,919,828 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle International by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,925,592 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,862,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,426 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Crown Castle International by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,940,782 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,311,853,000 after purchasing an additional 231,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle International by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,273,955 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,066,688,000 after purchasing an additional 2,354,559 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle International Stock Down 1.7 %

Crown Castle International stock opened at $177.00 on Tuesday. Crown Castle International has a 1-year low of $153.70 and a 1-year high of $209.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $76.65 billion, a PE ratio of 49.72 and a beta of 0.58. The stock's fifty day moving average is $173.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.80.

Crown Castle International (NYSE:CCI - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.74). Crown Castle International had a net margin of 22.91% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Castle International will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 15th will be issued a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 14th. Crown Castle International's dividend payout ratio is presently 165.17%.

Crown Castle International Company Profile

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Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 80,000 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.

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