Traders Purchase Large Volume of Crown Castle Call Options (NYSE:CCI)

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 4,539 call options on the company. This is an increase of 120% compared to the average volume of 2,059 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at $388,025.57. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crown Castle

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Saudi Central Bank lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 89.9% during the 2nd quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 30,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,312,000 after buying an additional 14,451 shares in the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $68,627,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the second quarter valued at approximately $168,855,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,222,008 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $343,291,000 after acquiring an additional 938,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $13,219,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Trading Up 15.7%

NYSE CCI opened at $79.68 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.94. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $65.32 and a 1 year high of $100.50.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCI. Truist Financial cut their price target on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 target price on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Crown Castle from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.07.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.