Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Reaches New 1-Year Low on Disappointing Earnings

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as low as $86.38 and last traded at $87.52, with a volume of 787105 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.93.

The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($1.08). The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 23.20% and a net margin of 23.85%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.85 EPS.

Get Crown Castle alerts:

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.29%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 158.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CCI. Citigroup cut their price target on Crown Castle from $138.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Argus assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.89.

Read Our Latest Report on CCI

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in Crown Castle by 3.4% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Crown Castle by 33.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $730,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4,497.6% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 5,577 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 12.3% in the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 205.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the period. 90.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Down 5.6 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.65.

Crown Castle Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 85,000 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.

Featured Articles

• Five stocks we like better than Crown Castle
• High Dividend REITs: Are They an Ideal Way to Diversify?
• 3 High Dividend Stocks To Beat Treasury Yields
• The How and Why of Investing in Large-Cap Stocks
• United Airlines Shares Fall Despite Solid Quarter
• Where to Find Earnings Call Transcripts
• Housing Starts Up, Homebuilders Down as Mortgage Rates Soar

Receive News & Ratings for Crown Castle Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Crown Castle and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.