Investors Buy High Volume of Crown Castle Call Options (NYSE:CCI)

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 5,622 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 114% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,632 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Napa Wealth Management grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 4.6% during the third quarter. Napa Wealth Management now owns 2,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,475 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.12.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI traded up $9.43 on Friday, reaching $102.96. 6,334,937 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,563,123. 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 stock has a market cap of $44.75 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.55. Crown Castle has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 221.99%.

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.