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

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of 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 daily trading volume, of 2,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on CCI. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays increased their target price 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. Citigroup set a $128.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.93.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.7 %

CCI stock opened at $89.26 on Friday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $100.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.19. The company has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.65 and a beta of 0.86. Crown Castle has a twelve month low of $88.92 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($1.03). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. Crown Castle’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.01%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Crown Castle by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 157,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,476,000 after purchasing an additional 31,319 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,088,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $603,592,000 after purchasing an additional 203,442 shares during the period. Citizens Business Bank bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at approximately $620,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3,111.6% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 13,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,581,000 after buying an additional 12,913 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,875,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,476,470,000 after buying an additional 747,390 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.