Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

CCI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities began coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.88.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI stock traded up $1.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $96.65. The stock had a trading volume of 3,419,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,921,291. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27 and a beta of 0.93.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 72.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,979 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $613,900,000 after acquiring an additional 348,296 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,103 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 10,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 111.7% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

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.