BlackRock Fund Advisors recently announced the acquisition of new stake in SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Real Estate company by 0.52% to 5.99 million shares with purchase of 31043.0 shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 5.55% valued currently at $1.48 billion. In addition, Cohen & Steers Capital Management raised its holdings by 1.64 million to 5.79 million shares. And Principal Global Investors LLC has lifted its position by 0.78% or 21792.0 shares – to 2.8 million shares.
With over 0.47 million SBA Communications Corp (SBAC) shares trading Friday and a closing price of $251.43 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $118.84 million. The shares have shown a positive half year performance of 12.08% and its price on 12/22/23 lost nearly -0.15%. Currently, there are 108.00M common shares owned by the public and among those 106.76M shares have been available to trade.
An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 18 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for SBAC have a consensus price objective of $265.53. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $343.00 and a low of $206.00. The average price target is 5.31% above its recent price level and a downside to the estimated low will see the stock lose -22.05% over that period. But an upside of 26.7% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $262.00.
Insiders at the company have transacted a total of 124 times over the past 12 months, according to data filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 74 of these insider trades were purchases, accounting for 109,728 shares. Insider sales of the common stock occurred on 50 occasions, with total insider shares sold totaling 203,658 shares.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in SBA Communications Corp are Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, and Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund owns 4.46 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $1.1 billion. The company sold 32936.0 shares recently to bring their total holdings to about 4.14% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF bought 4144.0 shares to see its total holdings expand to 3.4 million shares valued at over $838.57 million and representing 3.15% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard 500 Index Fund bought 13081.0 shares to bring its total holdings to over 2.62 million shares at a value of $646.52 million. Vanguard 500 Index Fund now owns shares totaling to 2.43% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ: SBAC) opened at $252.89, up $1.08 from a prior closing price of $251.81. However, the script later moved the day high at 254.57, down -0.15%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of 1.18% and 24.88% over the past three months. SBAC shares are trading -10.30% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance down to -10.42% lower. It has a 12-month low price of $185.23 and touched a high of $312.34 over the same period. SBAC has an average intraday trading volume of 878.79K shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by 2.08%, 11.00%, and 9.27% respectively.
Institutional ownership of SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ: SBAC) shares accounts for 97.30% of the company’s 108.00M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 38.27%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 59.50% and 0.99% respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $27.13B and a beta (3y monthly) value of 0.61. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 55.33, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $4.54. The company has a PEG of 4.05. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 1.84% over the week and 2.34% over the month.
Analysts forecast that SBA Communications Corp (SBAC) will achieve an EPS of $1.37 for the current quarter, $1.38 for the next quarter and $6 for 2024. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is $1.16 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of $1.47. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $0.94 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to increase by 17.70%, and 19.87% over the next financial year. EPS should shrink at an annualized rate of 13.65% over the next five years, compared to 37.45% over the past 5-year period.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 18 brokerage firm advisors rate SBA Communications Corp (SBAC) as a “Strong Buy” at a consensus score of 1.67. Specifically, 11 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 5 of the 18 advise that investors “hold,” and 0 rated it as a “Sell.”
Looking at the support for the SBAC, a number of firms have released research notes about the stock. BMO Capital Markets stated their Outperform rating for the stock in a research note on December 15, 2023, with the firm’s price target at $245-$285.
