Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) saw a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,310,000 shares, a growth of 5.6% from the November 30th total of 6,920,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.1 %

CCI stock opened at $90.76 on Wednesday. Crown Castle has a 1-year low of $88.92 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.42. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 0.86.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.90%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently 221.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Crown Castle by 23.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,528,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,079,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 433.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,968,959 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $470,838,000 after acquiring an additional 3,225,460 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 4,097.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,524,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,094 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Crown Castle by 191.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,032,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in Crown Castle by 95.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,578,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,536 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.