Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was downgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $84.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their previous target price of $127.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target points to a potential downside of 6.66% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.93.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $89.99 on Thursday. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $88.65 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.11 billion, a PE ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.19.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 107.9% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3,672.7% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. 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.