Sanford C. Bernstein Upgrades Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) to Strong-Buy

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was upgraded by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, HSBC dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.13.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock opened at $90.07 on Wednesday. Crown Castle has a fifty-two week low of $77.01 and a fifty-two week high of $115.76. The company has a market capitalization of $39.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $87.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 74,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth $234,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.