Short Interest in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Increases By 20.2%

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versor Investments LP increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 4,608 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,243,722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $113,465,000 after purchasing an additional 282,821 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,231,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $3,083,000. Finally, Citizens Business Bank bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter valued at $620,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI stock traded down $0.79 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $103.82. 2,044,233 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,860,206. The company has a market capitalization of $45.21 billion, a PE ratio of 36.82 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle has a 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 6.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently -69.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.00.

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.