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

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,500,000 shares, a growth of 20.2% from the February 28th total of 7,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown Castle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 95.2% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp raised Crown Castle from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.00.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock opened at $107.07 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $46.62 billion, a PE ratio of 37.97 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $95.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.38. Crown Castle has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.71%.

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.