Short Interest in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Decreases By 6.1%

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the target of a large decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,110,000 shares, a decline of 6.1% from the August 15th total of 5,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In related news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.72, for a total transaction of $1,128,784.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at $7,792,172.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 163.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.6 %

CCI stock traded down $0.76 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $118.78. 378,167 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,632,749. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $110.69 and a 200-day moving average of $103.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.61 billion, a PE ratio of 37.38 and a beta of 0.85. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $84.72 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 195.63%.

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.