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

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,110,000 shares, a decrease 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 short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, COO Michael Joseph Kavanagh sold 10,883 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,792,172.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 159.0% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 163.9% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $118.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 378,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,632,749. Crown Castle has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.92. The company has a market capitalization of $51.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.38 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 19.20% and a net margin of 17.98%. Crown Castle’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Crown Castle will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 14th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.53.

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.