SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) Short Interest Up 23.8% in April

Key Points

• Short interest rose 23.8% in April to 3,447,109 shares (about 3.3% of shares sold short) with a days-to-cover ratio of 1.5, signaling increased bearish positioning.
• Institutional ownership is very high at 97.35%, with major managers like Vanguard and Dodge & Cox materially increasing stakes to ~18.16M and ~11.99M shares respectively, indicating heavy institutional accumulation.
• SBA beat quarterly EPS ($3.47 vs. $3.25), raised its quarterly dividend to $1.25 (annualized $5.00, 2.3% yield), and carries a MarketBeat average analyst target of $236.47 with a "Moderate Buy" consensus.

SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,447,109 shares, an increase of 23.8% from the March 31st total of 2,783,739 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,367,956 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in SBA Communications by 2.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,163,536 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,511,920,000 after purchasing an additional 403,285 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in SBA Communications by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,996,134 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,320,412,000 after purchasing an additional 2,328,837 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in SBA Communications by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,911,615 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $950,054,000 after purchasing an additional 158,738 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in SBA Communications by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,085,112 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $594,655,000 after purchasing an additional 16,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in SBA Communications by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,034,920 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $393,615,000 after purchasing an additional 179,591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of SBA Communications from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on SBA Communications from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on SBA Communications from $212.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on SBA Communications from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on SBA Communications from $245.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.47.

SBA Communications Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of SBAC traded down $1.62 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $215.97. 1,107,986 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,128,665. SBA Communications has a twelve month low of $162.41 and a twelve month high of $245.16. The company has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.66, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $198.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.02.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.25 by $0.22. SBA Communications had a negative return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 36.40%.The company had revenue of $719.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $725.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that SBA Communications will post 11.49 earnings per share for the current year.

SBA Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from SBA Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. SBA Communications's payout ratio is presently 52.47%.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation NASDAQ: SBAC is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops wireless communications infrastructure. Its core business is the leasing of space on communications towers, rooftop sites and other wireless structures to mobile network operators, broadband providers and other wireless service customers. The company also provides site development, construction and ongoing site management services to support the deployment and operation of wireless networks.

In addition to traditional macro towers, SBA offers a range of infrastructure solutions designed for dense urban and suburban markets, including small cells, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and fiber backhaul and transport services.

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