Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.92 EPS

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92), Yahoo Finance reports. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. Crown Castle updated its FY24 guidance to $6.85-$6.97 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 6.850-6.970 EPS.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $95.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.72 and a 52 week high of $131.43.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.57%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Certified Advisory Corp bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter worth about $150,000. Mango Five Family Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth about $138,000. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 648.2% in the 4th quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 573 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CCI shares. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.73.

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.