Crown Castle Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCI)

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 5,622 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 114% compared to the average volume of 2,632 call options.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $103.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $91.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.40.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.07%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 19,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 3,717 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Crown Castle in the third quarter valued at about $455,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 2.1% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,696 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter worth approximately $522,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the third quarter worth approximately $245,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on CCI. Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.12.

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.