Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

Key Points

• Crown Castle saw unusually high call-option activity on Friday, with investors purchasing 4,539 calls—about 120% above the average daily volume.
• CCI shares rose 14.1% to $78.63, while analysts maintained a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $94.07, despite several recent target reductions.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.69, beating estimates of $0.51, and pays a $1.0625 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 5.4% yield; institutional investors own 90.77% of outstanding shares.

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 4,539 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 120% compared to the average daily volume of 2,059 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CCI. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $80.00 price target (down from $85.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.07.

Crown Castle Trading Up 14.1%

Shares of CCI stock traded up $9.74 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $78.63. 5,203,648 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,626,225. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $65.32 and a 1 year high of $100.50. The stock has a market cap of $33.45 billion, a PE ratio of 40.12, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.94. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $73.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.56.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.18. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 51.60% and a net margin of 20.71%.The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. Crown Castle's revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Crown Castle will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares of the company's stock, valued at $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,326,154,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $456,897,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $429,341,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the second quarter worth approximately $348,779,000. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle Inc NYSE: CCI is a communications infrastructure company that owns, operates and leases wireless communications assets in the United States. Its infrastructure helps wireless carriers, government agencies and other customers expand network coverage and capacity for voice, data and other wireless services.

The company's portfolio includes cell towers and fiber-based infrastructure. Crown Castle provides space on its towers for wireless equipment and offers fiber solutions that support small-cell networks, distributed antenna systems and other high-capacity communications applications.

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