Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Short Interest Up 26.7% in October

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,740,000 shares, a growth of 26.7% from the October 15th total of 5,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.87.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter worth $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 107.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 163.9% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $103.80 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.53. Crown Castle has a 12 month low of $92.48 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $45.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.81 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (NYSE:CCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.03). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 221.99%.

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.