Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.57

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 1.565 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%.

Crown Castle has raised its dividend by an average of 4.7% per year over the last three years. Crown Castle has a dividend payout ratio of 222.0% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Crown Castle to earn $6.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 95.1%.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.9 %

CCI stock opened at $91.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $39.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $89.63 and its 200 day moving average is $102.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Crown Castle from $118.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities started coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $128.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.75.

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.