Investors Buy High Volume of Crown Castle Call Options (NYSE:CCI)

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 5,622 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 114% compared to the average daily volume of 2,632 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown Castle

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Investors Research Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. JMP Securities started coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $99.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised Crown Castle from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $117.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.12.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI traded up $9.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $102.96. 6,334,937 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,563,123. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.55.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 221.99%.

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.