Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Issues Earnings Results

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92), Yahoo Finance reports. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 20.78%. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. 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 Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $94.37 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.07. Crown Castle has a fifty-two week low of $84.72 and a fifty-two week high of $134.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.63%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.73.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,343,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,538,658,000 after buying an additional 203,085 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 1.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,046,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,208,030,000 after purchasing an additional 118,306 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Crown Castle by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,004,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $691,627,000 after purchasing an additional 435,748 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 78.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,463,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $629,386,000 after purchasing an additional 2,405,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $642,077,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently 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.