Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Sets New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $83.65 and last traded at $83.9740, with a volume of 161732 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $84.52.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CCI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $127.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, New Street Research downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.33.

Crown Castle Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.38. The company has a market capitalization of $36.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.88, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.96.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.08. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 95.37% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.230-4.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -39.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.08, for a total transaction of $2,942,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 65,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,431,203.68. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 7,135 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 196.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 27,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,909,000 after purchasing an additional 18,498 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the first quarter valued at approximately $461,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,714,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,504 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.