Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Short Interest Up 50.2% in October

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 7,150,000 shares, a growth of 50.2% from the September 30th total of 4,760,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE CCI traded up $0.39 on Tuesday, reaching $89.91. 984,355 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,267,025. Crown Castle has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $115.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a PE ratio of -8.46, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.40.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.08. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 95.37% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.230-4.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, EVP Daniel K. Schlanger sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.08, for a total value of $2,942,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,431,203.68. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 10.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,840,605 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,175,256,000 after purchasing an additional 6,341,150 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth $629,431,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 3,051.5% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,472,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $562,221,000 after buying an additional 5,299,155 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $305,876,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 60.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,472,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $570,443,000 after buying an additional 2,072,198 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.12.

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.