Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wolfe Research

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wolfe Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CCI. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $101.00 target price (down previously from $104.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, HSBC lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.61.

Crown Castle Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $81.01 on Friday. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $77.01 and a 52-week high of $115.76. The company has a market capitalization of $35.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $87.47 and a 200 day moving average of $93.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,769,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,200,406,000 after acquiring an additional 386,733 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,728,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,096,587,000 after purchasing an additional 266,963 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Crown Castle by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,291 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,185,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $596,876,000 after buying an additional 177,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the second quarter valued at about $629,431,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Crown Castle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Crown Castle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates — Crown Castle topped AFFO/FFO and revenue consensus (FFO $1.12 vs. $1.07 estimate) and flagged stronger services revenue growth, which supports near?term cash flow expectations. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings and revenue surprises reinforced by multiple outlets reporting beats — these beats likely underpin buying interest and justify the stock strength despite other headwinds. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Management commentary and investor presentation are available (earnings call transcript & slides); investors should review guidance details and management’s outlook for EBITDA, capital allocation and DISH exposure to assess longer?term impact. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Banks and analysts broadly trimmed price targets this week (examples: Citi to $106 from $110, Goldman to $95 from $105, HSBC to $88.40 from $107, BMO to $91), and several firms moved ratings toward neutral/hold — these cuts signal reduced near?term upside in street models and are pressuring sentiment. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Management issued softer EBITDA guidance and announced job cuts; media noted the stock dipped on that news — weaker guidance increases execution risk and could limit multiple expansion. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: External tenant risk remains (reports discuss DISH-related uncertainty/default risk affecting tower demand), a macro/regulatory or tenant?specific shock could weigh on occupancy and cash flow. Article Title

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.