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

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.92), Yahoo Finance reports. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.78% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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 Stock Up 1.4 %

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently 195.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $642,077,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 90,084.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,487,430 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $473,035,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483,563 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,463,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $629,386,000 after purchasing an additional 2,405,768 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,004,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $691,627,000 after purchasing an additional 435,748 shares during the period. Finally, CI Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,987,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Argus downgraded Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.73.

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.