Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) to “Hold”

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on SBAC. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $271.00 price objective on shares of SBA Communications in a report on Monday, October 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on SBA Communications from $208.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on SBA Communications from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of SBA Communications in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of SBA Communications in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, SBA Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $227.20.

SBA Communications Price Performance

Shares of SBA Communications stock opened at $183.72 on Thursday. SBA Communications has a 1-year low of $156.60 and a 1-year high of $224.46. The company has a market capitalization of $19.49 billion, a PE ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $179.47 and a 200-day moving average of $191.34.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $715.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $706.01 million. SBA Communications had a negative return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 34.51%. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that SBA Communications will post 11.40 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SBA Communications news, Director George R. Krouse, Jr. sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.67, for a total transaction of $54,801.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,554,887.04. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SBA Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SBAC. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in SBA Communications by 5.7% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 267,659 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,067,000 after purchasing an additional 14,317 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of SBA Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,011,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of SBA Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,298,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SBA Communications by 303.5% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 8,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after buying an additional 6,565 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Global Management LP bought a new stake in shares of SBA Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,162,000. 97.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops wireless communications infrastructure. Its portfolio primarily includes communications towers, rooftops, small-cell networks and distributed antenna systems used by wireless service providers, government agencies and other communications customers.

The company generates revenue mainly by leasing antenna space and related infrastructure to tenants, who install equipment used to provide wireless voice and data services.