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

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.78% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $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 Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $94.37 on Friday. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $84.72 and a 12 month high of $134.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.07. The company has a market cap of $41.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.73.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid 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 payout ratio is 195.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.4% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 33.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4,497.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 12.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 205.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.