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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Crown Castle from $103.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report 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 note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $117.00.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:CCI traded up $0.98 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $90.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,087,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,716,386. 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 capitalization of $39.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.31. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $88.92 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 EPS 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 analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. Research analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.90%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently 221.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 23.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,371,186 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,105,151 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,434,229,000 after acquiring an additional 151,990 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Crown Castle by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,177,250 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $603,518,000 after purchasing an additional 67,072 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,174,920 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $613,900,000 after purchasing an additional 348,296 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

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.