SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $268.38.

SBAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of SBA Communications from $285.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America raised shares of SBA Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of SBA Communications from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th.

SBA Communications Price Performance

Shares of SBA Communications stock opened at $213.01 on Tuesday. SBA Communications has a 1 year low of $185.23 and a 1 year high of $267.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $214.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.49. The stock has a market cap of $23.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.21, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.56.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The technology company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.36). SBA Communications had a net margin of 18.51% and a negative return on equity of 9.70%. The firm had revenue of $675.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $682.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that SBA Communications will post 12.59 earnings per share for the current year.

SBA Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from SBA Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. SBA Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 85.03%.

Insider Transactions at SBA Communications

In other news, Director Mary S. Chan sold 1,977 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.99, for a total value of $430,966.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,622 shares in the company, valued at $1,007,549.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SBA Communications

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,760,357 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,103,260,000 after acquiring an additional 23,330 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,801,806 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $560,838,000 after acquiring an additional 21,792 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 15.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,537,428 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $662,447,000 after acquiring an additional 348,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 2.0% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,531,538 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $659,594,000 after acquiring an additional 49,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of SBA Communications by 140.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,143,877 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $429,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.35% of the company’s stock.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC.