Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.92 EPS

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) announced 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. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 21.95% and a net margin of 21.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. 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 Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $93.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $105.41 and a 200-day moving average of $105.15. The company has a market cap of $40.42 billion, a PE ratio of 26.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.72 and a one year high of $134.09.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.73%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 180.92%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 191,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,061,000 after buying an additional 63,957 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 65.4% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $612,000 after buying an additional 2,240 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $385,000. Childress Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $276,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 233,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,881,000 after buying an additional 15,813 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.57.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.