Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Short Interest Up 26.5% in August

Key Points

• Crown Castle Inc. experienced a significant increase in short interest, rising by 26.5% in August to a total of 4,770,000 shares.
• The company's stock is currently held predominantly by institutional investors, with around 90.77% of the shares owned by them.
• Crown Castle has announced a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, with a dividend yield of 4.5%, payable on September 30th.

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,770,000 shares, an increase of 26.5% from the August 15th total of 3,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days. Approximately 1.1% of the company's stock are sold short. Approximately 1.1% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $124.00 price target (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $116.18.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,290,381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,118,201,000 after purchasing an additional 449,776 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,461,578 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,204,748,000 after purchasing an additional 110,050 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,387,895 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,229,260,000 after purchasing an additional 538,049 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $629,431,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,992,402 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $624,584,000 after purchasing an additional 72,511 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE CCI traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $93.60. The company had a trading volume of 5,261,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,761,189. The stock has a market cap of $40.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.38. Crown Castle has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $119.56.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.02. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.140-4.250 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crown Castle will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -39.83%.

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.