Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Short Interest Update

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,500,000 shares, an increase of 20.2% from the February 28th total of 7,070,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. KeyCorp raised Crown Castle from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.5 %

Crown Castle stock traded up $1.59 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $105.40. The company had a trading volume of 2,321,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,858,903. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $45.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.38 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $95.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.33. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.94%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -69.71%.

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.