Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Short Interest Up 16.3% in February

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,070,000 shares, an increase of 16.3% from the February 13th total of 6,080,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $104.59 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $45.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.09 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.25.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.99%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -69.71%.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. 111 Capital bought a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $455,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 240,038 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,786,000 after purchasing an additional 16,041 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,637,000. Probity Advisors Inc. raised its position in Crown Castle by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 4,558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its position in Crown Castle by 811.5% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 49,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,501,000 after purchasing an additional 44,152 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday. Scotiabank decreased 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. Citizens Jmp raised Crown Castle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Crown Castle from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.