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

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,070,000 shares, a growth of 16.3% from the February 13th total of 6,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company's stock are short sold.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock traded up $2.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $106.61. The stock had a trading volume of 9,214,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,640,163. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $92.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap of $46.42 billion, a PE ratio of 37.81 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -69.71%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,672,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,119,225,000 after buying an additional 228,007 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $561,714,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Raymond James raised 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 report on Friday, March 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $110.00.

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.