SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, a decline of 20.3% from the November 15th total of 1,380,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 856,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SBAC. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of SBA Communications from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on SBA Communications from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on SBA Communications from $236.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of SBA Communications from $230.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of SBA Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.23.

SBA Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SBAC traded down $1.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $214.28. The stock had a trading volume of 609,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 912,591. SBA Communications has a twelve month low of $183.64 and a twelve month high of $258.76. The stock has a market cap of $23.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.80, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.84.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The technology company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.17 by ($0.77). The business had revenue of $667.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.29 million. SBA Communications had a net margin of 25.76% and a negative return on equity of 13.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SBA Communications will post 12.56 earnings per share for the current year.

SBA Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. SBA Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SBA Communications

In other SBA Communications news, EVP Mark R. Ciarfella sold 3,545 shares of SBA Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.33, for a total value of $795,249.85. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,534,796.04. The trade was a 9.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SBA Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in SBA Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in SBA Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in SBA Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in SBA Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in SBA Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.35% of the company’s stock.

SBA Communications Company Profile

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC.