Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) shares are gaining Thursday on reports that SpaceX is negotiating tower leases with the company as it hunts for at least 80,000 U.S. cell sites.
Crown Castle shares are powering higher. Why is CCI stock surging? Crown Castle Stock Rises On SpaceX Lease TalksSpaceX Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) is working to secure 80,000 or more cell sites nationwide, and Crown Castle sits among the tower companies at the table, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
In late trading, Crown Castle stock rose double digits after the news broke. Wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile moved the other way, each down roughly 5% on competition worries.
CEO Chris Hillabrant did not confirm any agreement during Wednesday’s earnings call. Pressed on whether SpaceX, Amazon.com Inc or other satellite providers are negotiating leases, Hillabrant replied, “You can assume that we’re talking to all parties.” He would not name specific customers.
Why SpaceX Talks Help Crown CastleCrown Castle is one of the largest owners of cellular towers. Wireless carriers typically lease space on those towers instead of owning the sites. SpaceX needs towers to connect reliably with users on the ground, so it could become a major new tenant. Deals of that scale may be worth billions of dollars.
Tower stocks also reacted to SpaceX news earlier this month. They rose when SpaceX bought low-band spectrum, which suggests the market expects new business as SpaceX builds out its network.
SpaceX Pushes Toward a Fourth Wireless CarrierSpaceX CEO Elon Musk has set his sights on a standalone wireless carrier built from nothing. Two recent moves back that plan: low-band spectrum SpaceX bought, and Federal Communications Commission approval to launch 15,000 satellites that serve phones directly.
Hillabrant said the spectrum deal marks a big step toward broad mobile coverage.
CCI Shares Are SoaringCCI Price Action: Crown Castle shares were up 9.44% at $86.27 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro.
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Key Takeaways SpaceX is reportedly seeking 80,000 cell sites to support its U.S. wireless carrier ambitions.Crown Castle and American Tower could benefit from potential tower-leasing deals with SpaceX.SRVR, DTCR, IDGT and ICF target tower operators; MARS, RONB and NASA offer SpaceX-heavy exposure. SpaceX (SPCX - Free Report) is taking another major step toward entering the U.S. wireless market. The Elon Musk-led company is seeking to secure at least 80,000 cell sites across the country and is reportedly negotiating with major cellular infrastructure providers to make it happen, according to Bloomberg, as reported by Yahoo Finance.
The potential deals could help SpaceX build a nationwide wireless network, positioning it as the fourth major carrier alongside AT&T (T - Free Report) , Verizon (VZ - Free Report) and T-Mobile (TMUS - Free Report) . SpaceX shares rose 1.7% in after-hours trading on Thursday following the report, as investors focused on the company's progress toward building a nationwide wireless network.
However, the report triggered contrasting moves across the telecom and cellular infrastructure sectors. Shares of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile fell around 2% to 3% in extended trading.
Crown Castle Among Potential PartnersCrown Castle (CCI - Free Report) , one of the largest owners of cellular tower infrastructure in the United States, is reportedly in discussions with SpaceX. American Tower (AMT - Free Report) and Vertical Bridge Holdings are also major players in the sector.
Wireless carriers typically lease space on existing towers to install their antennas rather than build and maintain their own infrastructure. Sharing tower sites helps operators control costs while expanding network coverage. SpaceX could follow a similar approach as it works to establish its wireless business.
Tower operators, including Crown Castle and American Tower, gained on expectations that new leasing agreements could create significant business opportunities. CCI stock surged about 6.6% after hours while AMT shares advanced 3.6%.
Starlink and Spectrum to Support Wireless AmbitionsMusk has openly discussed his plans to build a standalone wireless carrier, potentially bringing a well-funded new competitor into an already concentrated market.
SpaceX recently acquired low-band spectrum that could help it combine its Starlink satellite network with terrestrial wireless infrastructure. The company has also received Federal Communications Commission approval to launch 15,000 satellites designed to provide mobile connectivity directly to phones.
Cell towers would provide another key part of the network, helping SpaceX establish dependable connections for users on the ground.
ETFs to BenefitPacer Data & Infrastructure Real Estate ETF (SRVR - Free Report) puts about 15% weight in AMT shares, while Global X Data Center and Digital Infrastructure ETF (DTCR - Free Report) , iShares U.S. Digital Infrastructure and Real Estate ETF (IDGT - Free Report) and iShares Select U.S. REIT ETF (ICF - Free Report) put considerable assets (in the range of 7% to 14%) in AMT shares.
DTCR also has about 10% exposure to CCI shares, while IDGT has about 5% weight in the stock. No wonder the aforementioned ETFs are likely to gain in light of the above-mentioned report.
We also highlight a few ETFs with significant exposure to SpaceX. MARS Space & Technology ETF (MARS - Free Report) , Baron First Principles ETF (RONB - Free Report) and Tema Space Innovators ETF NASA are examples of such ETFs.
SpaceX is reportedly chasing 80,000 cell towers to build a fourth nationwide wireless carrier, and the move sent shockwaves through the stocks of every major player except the ones that actually own the towers.
Bloomberg News reported on October 22, 2026, that SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) is in talks for access to about 80,000 U.S. cell sites to build a fourth nationwide wireless carrier. That is roughly half of the 158,500 purpose-built towers operating in the U.S. last year.
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Oct. 22 Close
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Market Value
After Hours (7:59 p.m. ET)
After the close, Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) and American Tower (NYSE:AMT) rose, while Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) gave back their regular-session gains. SpaceX edged up after a steep daytime drop, which suggests investors had already priced in the news. After-hours trading is thin, and these moves can reverse at the open on October 23.
Only the Spectrum Deal Is Signed
No tower lease has been signed. The report relies on unnamed sources; SpaceX has not commented, and Crown Castle has not confirmed any SpaceX deal. The potential leases reportedly could run into the billions of dollars.
On October 8, SpaceX agreed to buy Grain Management’s portfolio, which includes 14 MHz of paired nationwide 800 MHz spectrum. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approval. Neither company disclosed a price, but reports put it at about $8 billion.
Elon Musk said, “This is the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX.” Spectrum still needs towers.
Crown Castle Has the Most to Gain
Crown Castle owns about 40,000 U.S. towers, and T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon supply 93% of its site rental revenue. A fourth large tenant would reduce that dependence for a stock that is down 15.16% over one year and 43.67% over five.
On October 21, Crown Castle’s chief executive said the company is “talking to all parties” but declined to discuss specific customers.
American Tower owns about 42,000 U.S. towers out of more than 148,000 sites worldwide, and it also runs CoreSite data centers. A SpaceX lease would therefore be a smaller share of its business. Its shares are down 24.87% over five years.
The carriers face pricing pressure, customer losses and higher network spending. AT&T fell 6.5% after its October 21 report even though it beat revenue estimates and raised its outlook. Scotiabank cut its T-Mobile target to $212 from $217. T-Mobile is down 20.08% year to date, while Verizon is up 18.54%.
Why the After-Hours Rally Could Fade
TD Cowen estimates that a nationwide terrestrial network would cost more than $80 billion and take many years to build. On October 20, SpaceX also said it plans to put Starlink towers on real estate from existing Starlink facilities, which could reduce how many towers it leases.
DISH, the last company to try to become a fourth carrier, walked away from its towers, and that will cut Crown Castle’s 2026 site rental billings by $220 million. Musk sees “a clear path to several hundred billion dollars a year in connectivity revenue,” but SpaceX’s connectivity unit brought in $5.20 billion in the third quarter.
What Crown Castle’s After-Hours Jump Is Pricing In
At $86.29, Crown Castle is pricing in a tenant that has signed nothing. It also carries net debt of 6.5x annualized adjusted EBITDA, a measure of cash earnings.
TD Cowen raised its target to $98 from $92, while BMO cut its target to $91 from $93.
American Tower carries less risk from these talks. It would collect rent if SpaceX leases towers, and its international towers and data centers would buffer the stock if the talks fail.
The test is a filing that discloses a signed SpaceX master lease, meaning a contract that covers many sites. Without one, expect Crown Castle to drift back toward its $78.83 close. Listen for SpaceX questions on Verizon’s October 26 call, American Tower’s October 27 call, and T-Mobile’s October 28 call.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Download this episode on Apple Podcasts/Spotify or listen below:
Moderna's (MRNA) cancer vaccine clears a hurdle, but the stock hits a wall. (00:13) Tower stocks (CCI) (AMT) soar as investors size up a major opportunity. (01:29) Kohl's (KSS) gets a rare buy rating. (02:25)
This is an abridged transcript.
We begin with a trending search on Seeking Alpha.
Moderna (MRNA) shares closed nearly ~18% lower on Thursday and are down 3% in premarket action.
This happened after a cancer news website released eagerly anticipated results for the company's personalized cancer vaccine, which is under development with Merck (MRK).
That data was slated for release on Oct. 24 at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Madrid.
It showed that intismeran autogene plus Keytruda (pembrolizumab) cut the risk of melanoma returning or death by 42% vs. Keytruda alone after a median follow-up of 24.6 months, meeting the primary endpoint.
Also, those on the combo saw their risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the body or death reduced by 38% compared to Keytruda alone, achieving the secondary endpoint.
In light of the leak, the embargo was lifted and Merck and Moderna also published the data.
Merck shares closed Thursday down ~2%.
The leaked information was positive but markets reacted negatively as the complete dataset remained unavailable and investors weighed valuation expectations against disclosure.
SpaceX (SPCX) reportedly aims to secure a minimum of 80,000 cell sites across the U.S., and it’s in talks with at least one major cellular infrastructure company to reach that goal.
Bloomberg News reported that one of the companies they’re in talks with is Crown Castle (CCI), which, along with American Tower (AMT) and Vertical Bridge Holdings, are among the largest owners of cellular towers.
AMT shares are up 4.3% in pre-market trading, and CCI is up 6.5%.
The 80,000 sites would be more than half the 158,500 purpose-built cell towers operational in the US last year, according to the Wireless Infrastructure Association.
Crown Castle CEO Christian Hillabrant on Wednesday said it was talking to “all parties” when asked about potential leases with SpaceX (SPCX) and Amazon (AMZN).
Shares of wireless carriers AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and T-Mobile (TMUS) are all down more than 3% in premarket action.
Kohl’s (KSS) shares took off on Thursday after an analyst gave his endorsement in what he expects will be a favorable holiday season for the department store.
The Gordon Haskett analyst turned bullish, giving the stock its only Buy rating, citing the two-year traffic trend that appears to be improving, accelerating from down high-single digits from January to May to down mid-single digits from June to the present.
The upgrade has put Kohl’s (KSS) shares at their highest level since last December and its best one-day gain since reporting Q1 results last May.
Stock index futures are in mixed territory.
Crude oil is up 1.3% at $100. Brent crude is up 0.7% at $114.
The FTSE 100 is down 0.5% and the DAX is down 0.7%.
One stock on the biggest movers list: Deckers Outdoor (DECK) -10% - Shares plunged after the footwear maker reported record Q2 revenue and a 27% increase in profit but missed sales estimates for the first time in more than 20 quarters and lowered its FY2027 revenue outlook.
Economic calendar:
10:00 am Consumer Sentiment
And on this day in history the original iPod was released. Twenty-five years ago today Apple released a device that held up to 1,000 songs. Do you remember your first iPod?
SpaceX's Spectrum Deal Hits Telecom Stocks but Gives Tower REITs a New OpportunityCrown Castle NYSE: CCI raised its full-year 2026 outlook after reporting third-quarter results that reflected continued organic tower leasing growth, operating-cost reductions and a customer agreement that extended lease terms on a subset of sites.
President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Hillabrant said the company has made progress during the past year in simplifying its operations after selling its small-cell and fiber businesses, with the goal of operating as a pure-play U.S. tower company. The company cited $65 million of annualized run-rate operating cost savings from actions taken at the beginning of the year.
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Space Race Meets Ground Reality for Tower REITs“We have taken decisive steps to simplify the business, strengthen our operating model, and build the right leadership team,” Hillabrant said. “This progress allowed us to increase our full year 2026 guidance.”
Third-Quarter Growth and Updated Outlook
Chief Financial Officer Sunit Patel said third-quarter organic growth, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, was $35 million, or 3.5%. Organic growth was 3.8% when excluding DISH revenue from prior-year site-rental billings.
3 Infrastructure Stocks Built Around the Backbone of the EconomyThat growth was offset by $5 million of Sprint cancellations, $61 million of DISH terminations and a $17 million reduction in non-cash straight-line revenue and amortization of prepaid rent. Services margin was $15 million in the third quarter, with Crown Castle expecting improvement in the fourth quarter.
The company increased its full-year 2026 outlook by:
$20 million for site-rental revenue;
$25 million for adjusted EBITDA; and
$5 million for adjusted funds from operations, or AFFO.
The updated outlook includes $20 million in additional straight-line revenue related to contractual term extensions from a customer agreement completed during the quarter, as well as a $5 million reduction in site-rental operating costs. Excluding the customer transaction, full-year adjusted EBITDA and AFFO guidance each increased by $5 million, Patel said.
Crown Castle maintained its forecast for 2026 organic growth, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, at $135 million, or 3.4% at the midpoint. The company expects core leasing activity of $60 million to $70 million for the year but now expects to finish toward the lower end of that range, citing timing rather than a change in underlying demand.
Patel said Crown Castle continues to expect 2026 to be the low point for organic growth. The company also reiterated its expectation for more than 200 basis points of margin expansion by 2030 relative to 2026.
Customer Agreement and Ground Lease Program
During the quarter, Crown Castle paid $275 million to acquire a residual economic interest in a subset of tower sites, extend a customer’s lease terms for those sites and limit long-term churn across that part of its portfolio. Executives described the arrangement as the resolution of a long-standing commercial issue, rather than a purchase of future lease options.
Patel said the transaction is expected to increase site-rental billings by nearly $4 million in the fourth quarter, or $16 million on an annualized basis. It also is expected to reduce prepaid-rent amortization by $2 million in the fourth quarter, or $8 million annually. Excluding prepaid-rent amortization, the agreement is expected to be approximately $4 million accretive to annualized AFFO.
The term extension is expected to generate an additional $20 million of straight-line revenue in the fourth quarter. Crown Castle did not disclose the specific length of the extension or its escalator terms.
The company also increased discretionary capital expenditure guidance by $40 million to $240 million, reflecting a higher expected volume of ground lease buyouts. Crown Castle expects to purchase more than 400 ground leases in 2026, more than twice the number completed in 2025. Hillabrant said owning land beneath towers can improve margins and provide greater operational control.
Network Demand, Spectrum and DISH
Executives pointed to ongoing mobile data growth, customer spectrum acquisitions and future spectrum auctions as supportive factors for tower demand. Hillabrant cited AT&T’s acquisition of 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz spectrum, Verizon’s AWS-3 license acquisition, and SpaceX’s acquisition of AWS-4, H Block and 800 MHz spectrum.
Hillabrant said SpaceX’s stated terrestrial network ambitions could potentially create tower leasing demand directly or encourage existing network operators to invest further in their networks. However, he said the pace and scale of any deployment would depend on SpaceX’s eventual network design.
Crown Castle has approximately 40,000 sites and said it had more than 12,000 installed DISH sites before DISH halted its deployment. Patel said some equipment from DISH remains on tower sites after the customer abandoned it. The company said bankruptcy-court proceedings involving DISH-related matters were paused while parties participated in court-ordered mediation through early November.
Edge Compute and Balance Sheet
Crown Castle said it has deployed more than 100 edge-compute sites and is conducting several concurrent trials. The company is evaluating whether the opportunity can scale into a meaningful business, with Hillabrant saying a potential long-term opportunity would need to reach hundreds or thousands of locations.
The company has identified roughly 5,000 existing structures or shelters at tower sites that could potentially support edge customers. In a review of 25 locations, Crown Castle found the potential to add up to 100 megawatts of aggregate power, which it said could be delivered in roughly nine to 11 months with limited capital requirements from the company.
At quarter-end, Crown Castle had 97% fixed-rate debt, a weighted average debt maturity of seven years and leverage of 6.5 times net debt to last-quarter annualized adjusted EBITDA. Patel said leverage would be 6.3 times when accounting for incremental straight-line revenue from term extensions beginning in the fourth quarter.
About Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)Crown Castle Inc NYSE: CCI is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and leases communications infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.
The company's infrastructure has historically included approximately 40,000 cell towers, about 90,000 route miles of fiber and a large portfolio of small-cell installations.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
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Crown Castle Inc. (CCI) Q3 2026 Earnings Call October 21, 2026 4:45 PM EDT
Company Participants
Hamilton West - VP of Corporate Finance and Treasurer
Christian Hillabrant - CEO, President & Director
Sunit Patel - Executive VP & CFO
Conference Call Participants
Ric Prentiss - Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division
Brendan Lynch - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
Michael Funk - BofA Securities, Research Division
Nicholas Del Deo - MoffettNathanson LLC
Cameron McVeigh - Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Michael Rollins - Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Michael Ng - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division
Matthew Niknam - Truist Securities, Inc., Research Division
David Barden - New Street Research LLP
Batya Levi - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
Presentation
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Third Quarter 2026 Crown Castle Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Hamilton West, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Treasurer. Please go ahead.
Hamilton West
VP of Corporate Finance and Treasurer
Thank you, Chuck, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we discuss our third quarter 2026 results. With me on the call this afternoon are Chris Hillabrant, Crown Castle's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Sunit Patel, Crown Castle's Chief Financial Officer. To aid the discussion, we have posted supplemental materials in the Investors section of our website at crowncastle.com that will be referenced throughout the call.
This conference call will contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may vary materially from those expected. Information about potential factors which could affect our results is available in the press release and the Risk Factors sections of the company's SEC filings. Our statements are made as of today, October 21, 2026, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, today's
On October 21, 2026, Crown Castle Inc CCI shares fell by 3.1% to a current price of $78.65, amidst a 52-week range of $65.32 to $100.50. This recent decline follows a year-to-date loss of 8.0% and a 16.2% drop over the past year.
GF Value™ verdict: CCI is currently priced at $78.65, which is 6.0% above the GF Value™ estimate of $74.21. GF Score™ of 59/100 indicates an average overall performance. Notable signal: Insider activity shows a net selling of $3.9 million over the past 12 months. Is CCI Overvalued or Undervalued? Crown Castle Inc CCI is currently traded at $78.65, which is 6.0% above the GF Value™ estimate of $74.21. This suggests that the stock is overvalued, as the market price exceeds the intrinsic value derived from historical trading multiples, past business growth, and future performance estimates. The GF Valuation label indicates that CCI is fairly valued based on its current price, but the overvaluation presents a risk for potential investors.
The margin of safety for CCI appears slim, indicating that while the stock may be a solid investment in the long run, short-term fluctuations could pose risks. The current valuation reflects market sentiment rather than fundamental improvements, suggesting caution for investors looking to enter or add to their positions.
How Does CCI's Valuation Compare to Its History? Metric Current Historical P/E (TTM) 17.3x 32.7x Forward P/E 27.8x N/A The current P/E ratio of 17.3x is significantly lower than its 5-year median of 32.7x, indicating that CCI is trading at a substantial discount to its historical valuation levels. This analysis aligns with the GF Value™ verdict, which suggests that the stock is overvalued. While the lower P/E ratio may seem attractive, it is crucial to consider the broader context of the company's financial health and market dynamics.
What Does CCI's GF Score™ Tell Us? The GF Score™ measures a company's overall financial health and growth potential based on various factors such as financial strength, profitability, growth, valuation, and momentum. CCI's current GF Score™ stands at 59/100, reflecting an average performance with notable strengths and weaknesses.
Metric Rating GF Score™ 59 Financial Strength 2/10 Profitability 7/10 Growth 1/10 Valuation 6/10 Momentum 4/10 The strongest area for CCI is its profitability rank of 7/10, indicating solid earnings relative to its peers. However, the weakest area is its financial strength, rated at only 2/10, which raises concerns about its ability to weather financial challenges. The low growth rank of 1/10 further emphasizes the need for caution regarding future performance expectations.
What Are Gurus and Insiders Doing with CCI? Currently, 7 gurus hold positions in Crown Castle Inc, with 3 adding to their holdings while 7 have trimmed their positions in recent quarters. This mixed activity suggests a cautious sentiment among institutional investors.
In terms of insider activity, over the past 12 months, insiders bought $0.1 million worth of shares but sold $4.0 million, resulting in a net selling of $3.9 million. This trend indicates a potential lack of confidence from insiders regarding the stock's near-term prospects, which should be taken into consideration by potential investors.
What This Means for Investors Given the current GF Value™ estimate of $74.21 and the stock trading at $78.65, CCI is considered overvalued at this time. The sustainability of its dividend remains a critical factor, as the average performance metrics and insider selling may raise concerns about long-term attractiveness. Investors should carefully assess these factors before making any decisions regarding their positions in Crown Castle Inc.
For further insights and detailed analysis, visit the Crown Castle Inc CCI stock page, as well as the GF Value™ page.
Frequently Asked Questions What is CCI's GF Score™?
CCI's GF Score™ is 59/100, indicating an average overall performance relative to its peers.
Is CCI overvalued or undervalued?
CCI is currently overvalued, with a GF Value™ estimate of $74.21 compared to its market price of $78.65.
What is CCI's P/E ratio?
CCI's trailing P/E ratio is 17.3x, which is significantly below its 5-year median P/E of 32.7x, indicating it is trading at a discount to its historical valuation.
This stock alert was generated using automated technology and GuruFocus financial data to provide readers with timely and accurate market reporting. This content was reviewed by GuruFocus editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Disclosures I/We may personally own shares in some of the companies mentioned above. However, those positions are not material to either the company or to my/our portfolios.
Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $1.24 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.2 per share. This compares to FFO of $1.12 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an FFO surprise of +3.33%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this operator of wireless communications towers would post FFO of $1 per share when it actually produced FFO of $1.13, delivering a surprise of +13%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus FFO estimates four times.
Crown Castle, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, posted revenues of $995 million for the quarter ended September 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.38%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.07 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.
Crown Castle shares have lost about 8.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 12.7%.
What's Next for Crown Castle?While Crown Castle has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Crown Castle was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus FFO estimate is $1.22 on $1 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.57 on $4.03 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, REIT and Equity Trust - Other is currently in the top 35% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
Alexander's (ALX - Free Report) , another stock in the same industry, has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2026. The results are expected to be released on November 2.
This real estate investment trust is expected to post quarterly earnings of $8.20 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +181.8%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
Alexander's' revenues are expected to be $82.4 million, up 54.3% from the year-ago quarter.
For the quarter ended September 2026, Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) reported revenue of $995 million, down 7.2% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $1.24, compared to $0.64 in the year-ago quarter.
The reported revenue represents a surprise of -1.38% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.01 billion. With the consensus EPS estimate being $1.20, the EPS surprise was +3.33%.
While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.
As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.
Here is how Crown Castle performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:
Revenues- Services and other: $29 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $42.33 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -51.7%.Revenues- Site rental: $966 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $969.58 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -4.6%.Net Earnings Per Share (Diluted): $0.67 versus $0.71 estimated by three analysts on average.Services and other- Gross margin: $16 million versus $20.48 million estimated by three analysts on average.Site rental- Gross margin: $718 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $718.13 million.View all Key Company Metrics for Crown Castle here>>>
Shares of Crown Castle have returned +12.1% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 9,039 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $602,000.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,326,154,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $456,897,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $429,341,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth about $348,779,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 18,599.3% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,872,994 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $293,302,000 after buying an additional 3,852,282 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued 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. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $85.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.07.
Read Our Latest Analysis on CCI Insider Transactions at Crown Castle In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Crown Castle Trading Up 0.0% Crown Castle stock opened at $82.30 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.32 and a twelve month high of $100.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.94.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.05 million. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 51.60% and a net margin of 20.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.
Crown Castle Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.74%.
Crown Castle Profile (Free Report)
Crown Castle Inc (NYSE: CCI) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and leases communications infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.
The company’s infrastructure has historically included approximately 40,000 cell towers, about 90,000 route miles of fiber and a large portfolio of small-cell installations.
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SpaceX NASDAQ: SPCX just sent shockwaves through shares of legacy telecom giants, with some stocks experiencing historically large drops after the firm’s latest announcement. SpaceX has agreed to acquire low-band wireless spectrum licenses from Grain Management, with reports indicating a purchase price near $8 billion.
This move signals SpaceX’s ambition to compete with the top dogs in telecom when it comes to offering cell phone coverage. SpaceX purchased a spectrum that effectively penetrates buildings. This contrasts with its Starlink satellite service, which requires an unobstructed view of the sky to provide a stable connection.
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In turn, analysts see the move as one that could help SpaceX compete for wireless customers in urban environments over time. While telecom leaders tanked on this news, another key portion of the telecom ecosystem, tower real estate investment trusts (REITs), caught a bid.
AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile Get Clobbered After SpaceX’s Spectrum PurchaseAfter this news broke, AT&T NYSE: T dropped approximately 10.8% in one day, Verizon Communications NYSE: VZ fell 10.1%, and T-Mobile US NASDAQ: TMUS fell by 13.3%. This marked T-Mobile’s worst single-day decline since becoming a public company, and overall, these were very large declines for stocks that tend to have relatively low volatility. Clearly, investors viewed this move as a substantial threat to the competitive positions of these legacy wireless carriers, or at least reacted as if it were. However, these names have recovered meaningfully over the following days, suggesting that markets initially overreacted to this news.
T-Mobile US Today
$159.10 +2.07 (+1.32%)
As of 10/16/2026 04:00 PM Eastern
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$244.65
This lines up with the perspective of some Wall Street analysts, who have framed SpaceX’s move as just one step in a protracted and expensive journey to compete with telecom incumbents. For example, MoffettNathanson notes that although SpaceX has secured the spectrum assets needed to penetrate buildings, the firm would still need to invest in terrestrial network infrastructure to use this spectrum. The firm estimates that this would cost tens of billions of dollars and take many years to build, aligning with comments from T-Mobile CTO John Saw, who emphasized the time, investment, and infrastructure required to establish a competitive wireless network.
Analysts at UBS have also noted that legacy carriers still have far more spectrum assets than SpaceX. At 77 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum, this is around one-fourth or less than the 300–350 MHz of spectrum controlled by other carriers.
Analysts have also remained relatively poised when it comes to adjusting their price targets on legacy carriers. This includes Scotiabank, which lowered its T-Mobile target by just 2.3% to $212, lowered its Verizon price target by 2.9% to $50, and lowered its AT&T price target by 3.6% to $26.50. Conversely, Raymond James actually upgraded T-Mobile from Market Perform to Outperform, despite placing a relatively low $170 target on the stock. Raymond James noted, “We believe the recent fears over competition from SpaceX are overblown, as they are 3+ years away from becoming a reality."
Tower REITs Soar on New Customer PotentialCrown Castle Today
CCI
Crown Castle
$82.30 +2.30 (+2.87%)
As of 10/16/2026 03:59 PM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$65.32▼
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On the other side of the equation, tower infrastructure players like Crown Castle NYSE: CCI got a huge boost after SpaceX’s announcement. Crown Castle rose 15.6%, good for its largest single-day gain in over 10 years. The thought process is that leasing space on current towers owned by these operators would be an efficient and cost-effective way for SpaceX to build out its terrestrial network.
Some analysts believe that SpaceX will shift from a femtocell-based approach to a traditional tower approach, increasing the likelihood of these operators gaining a new customer. The company’s proposed femtocell approach has faced significant skepticism from telecom analysts, who question whether femtocells can provide broad coverage.
Each femtocell would provide coverage over a much smaller area than traditional towers, with T-Mobile estimating over one billion femtocells would be needed to offer strong, broad-based coverage. This approach could make it difficult for SpaceX to deliver adequate customer satisfaction and thus compete with traditional carriers. However, it is possible that SpaceX will pursue a mixture of femtocell and tower-based connections.
Watch Items: Tower Negotiations and Telecom CommentaryLooking ahead, it will be worth monitoring the upcoming earnings calls of carriers and tower REITs. Notably, many of these names report over the next one to two weeks. Any commentary from tower operators about SpaceX actually beginning to negotiate lease agreements would be significant. This would indicate that the firm is serious about this approach and that tower operators have a legitimate chance of gaining another large customer.
For carriers, it appears that SpaceX’s move may not pose a significant competitive threat in the near term. However, management teams are likely to face questions about this development on their upcoming calls. Their comments on SpaceX’s potential to compete in wireless coverage could be telling. These management teams have a ripe opportunity to dispel investor fears by fleshing out the hurdles that SpaceX faces in truly competing against them. Strong rebuttals from these teams could help further restore investor confidence.
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Key Takeaways Crown Castle reports Q3 results Oct. 21, with revenues projected to fall 5.9% to $1.01 billion.Site rental revenues are expected to decline 4.2%, while services and other revenues may tumble 29.5%.AFFO per share is projected at $1.00, up 7.1% year over year, after four straight quarterly estimate beats. Crown Castle Inc. (CCI - Free Report) is scheduled to release its third-quarter 2026 results on Oct. 21, after the closing bell. In anticipation of the announcement, industry analysts and investors are eager to assess the company's performance and prospects in the current economic climate.
In the last reported quarter, this Houston, TX-based real estate investment trust’s (REIT) adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13%. Results reflected a decline in interest expense and an increase in interest income.
Over the preceding four quarters, CCI’s AFFO per share surpassed estimates on all occasions, with the average surprise being 6.59%. This is depicted in the graph below:
Let’s see how things have shaped up before this announcement.
Factors to Consider Ahead of CCI’s ResultsCrown Castle has an unmatched portfolio of wireless communication infrastructure assets in the United States. As wireless data consumption is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, service providers are likely to have continued their network expansion and densification efforts to meet this incremental demand.
However, customer concentration remains a concern. Any loss of its customers or consolidation among them is likely to have impacted the company’s top line. Rapid technological advancements and fluctuations in wireless carriers’ network deployment schedules are expected to have influenced leasing activity and contributed to variability in services revenues.
CCI’s Projections for Q3The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter revenues is pegged at $1.01 billion, indicating a decrease of 5.9% from the year-ago reported number.
Our estimate for quarterly site rental revenues is pinned at $969.6 million, implying a 4.2% decrease year over year. However, we estimate services and other revenues to decrease 29.5% year over year to $42.3 million.
Crown Castle’s activities in the to-be-reported quarter were inadequate to garner analysts’ confidence. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly AFFO per share remained unchanged at $1.20 over the past three months. The estimate indicates a 7.1% increase from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure.
What Our Quantitative Model Predicts for CCIOur proven model does not conclusively predict a surprise in terms of AFFO per share for Crown Castle this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an AFFO beat, which is not the case here.
Crown Castle currently has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank of 3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Stocks That Warrant a LookHere are two stocks from the broader REIT industry — Extra Space Storage (EXR - Free Report) and SBA Communications (SBAC - Free Report) — that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to report a surprise this quarter.
Extra Space Storage is slated to report quarterly results on Oct. 27. EXR has an Earnings ESP of +0.16% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
SBAC is scheduled to report quarterly results on Nov. 2. The company has an Earnings ESP of +0.48% and a Zacks Rank of 3.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
Wall Street analysts expect Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) to post quarterly earnings of $1.20 per share in its upcoming report, which indicates a year-over-year increase of 7.1%. Revenues are expected to be $1.01 billion, down 5.9% from the year-ago quarter.
The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has undergone an upward revision of 0.7% in the past 30 days, bringing it to its present level. This represents how the covering analysts, as a whole, have reassessed their initial estimates during this timeframe.
Ahead of a company's earnings disclosure, it is crucial to give due consideration to changes in earnings estimates. These revisions serve as a noteworthy factor in predicting potential investor reactions to the stock. Numerous empirical studies consistently demonstrate a strong relationship between trends in earnings estimate revision and the short-term price performance of a stock.
While investors typically rely on consensus earnings and revenue estimates to gauge how the business may have fared during the quarter, examining analysts' projections for some of the company's key metrics often helps gain a deeper insight.
Bearing this in mind, let's now explore the average estimates of specific Crown Castle metrics that are commonly monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts.
The collective assessment of analysts points to an estimated 'Revenues- Services and other' of $42.33 million. The estimate points to a change of -29.5% from the year-ago quarter.
Analysts expect 'Revenues- Site rental' to come in at $969.58 million. The estimate indicates a year-over-year change of -4.2%.
The consensus estimate for 'Services and other- Gross margin' stands at $20.48 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $30.00 million.
Based on the collective assessment of analysts, 'Site rental- Gross margin' should arrive at $718.13 million. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of $762.00 million.
According to the collective judgment of analysts, 'Depreciation, amortization and accretion' should come in at $169.50 million.
The consensus among analysts is that 'Costs of operations- Services and other' will reach $21.85 million.
It is projected by analysts that the 'Costs of operations- Site rental' will reach $251.45 million.
View all Key Company Metrics for Crown Castle here>>>
Shares of Crown Castle have experienced a change of +8.5% in the past month compared to the +2.4% move of the Zacks S&P 500 composite. With a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), CCI is expected to mirror the overall market performance in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
Crown Castle (CCI) witnessed a jump in share price last session on above-average trading volume. The latest trend in FFO estimate revisions for the stock suggests that there could be more strength down the road.
Every time someone opens a map app or joins a video call, rent flows to the owners of the antenna carrying that signal. Three REITs have built their entire business on that transaction, but their dividend safety levels are nowhere…
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Every video call, map search and AI query from a phone goes through an antenna bolted to a structure that someone owns. American Tower (NYSE:AMT), Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) own those towers and rooftop sites, and wireless carriers lease space on them. A single tower can host multiple tenants under long contracts with built-in annual escalators, so every new carrier added to a site is close to pure profit. Demand keeps going up: American Tower said “industry analysts estimate that mobile network capacity will need to at least double over the next five years to meet projected traffic demand.” All three operate as equity REITs holding physical sites.
They carry property risk and none of the credit-spread risk that comes with mortgage REITs. Dividend safety here is measured on AFFO (adjusted funds from operations) per share, the recurring cash a REIT generates after maintenance spending. Earnings payout ratios are the wrong yardstick for this group.
REIT Price Forward Dividend Forward Yield FY2026 AFFO/Share Guide Dividend as % of AFFO Midpoint American Tower $166.16 $7.16 4.31% $11.00 to $11.17 64.6% Crown Castle $69 $4.25 6.16% $4.53 to $4.65 92.6% SBA Communications $170.38 $5 2.93% $11.95 to $12.40 41.1% All three stocks closed out a strong session on October 6, yet each is still down for the year: American Tower -2.43%, SBA -10.17% and Crown Castle -19.32%.
American Tower: Global Towers With an AI Data Center Engine Attached The company has a global portfolio of communications towers plus CoreSite, a group of interconnection-rich data centers. American Tower is narrowing its presence. It completed the sale of its Philippines and Bangladesh operations, exiting the APAC region, and expects to spend approximately 85% of discretionary capital in developed markets.
Demand background: Q2 2026 revenue reached $2.749B (+4.7% YoY). U.S. and Canada property revenue slipped to $1,274M (-2.5% YoY) after $63M of DISH cancellations. Organic growth in the region was “approximately 5% when excluding Dish churn.” Data centers brought in $297M (+13.4%), and management says “nine of the top 10 AI companies and three of the top five NeoClouds are deployed within our facilities.”
Tenant concentration: U.S. tower revenue depends on a small group of national carriers. That gives American Tower reliable, contracted rent, and it also means the loss of one tenant shows up right away. The DISH hit to Q2 is a live example.
Yield and coverage: The quarterly dividend is $1.79, up from $1.70 in 2025. The forward payout is $7.16 and the yield is 4.31%. Full-year AFFO per share guidance of $11.00 to $11.17 has been raised for the second time this year, so the dividend uses about 64.6% of the midpoint. Net leverage is at 4.9x.
The bull case rests on Management sees approximately 800 megahertz of new mobile spectrum coming to market, starting with the upper C block in 2027. It now expects data center growth of approximately 15%, up from 13%. CEO Steve Vondran calls the company “uniquely positioned at the intersection of wireless, cloud, and AI.”
Risk: Carrier churn in emerging markets. Latin America organic growth declined over 2%, primarily due to elevated churn in Brazil. Management says that should turn around in 2027, but it is still a forecast.
Crown Castle: Ultra-High-Yield With the Thinnest Cushion Crown Castle owns about 40,000 U.S. towers. Crown Castle became a pure-play tower operator after it completed the $8.4B sale of its Fiber and Small Cell businesses on May 1, 2026. It owns 43% of the ground under its towers and is buying more land to close an approximately 11% land-cost gap with its peers. Its contracts are long: the company has $26B of remaining contracted tenant receivables with a 5-year weighted average term.
Tenant concentration: The three national carriers account for 42%, 28% and 23% of site rental revenue, for a combined 93%. These tenants have the biggest network budgets in the country. With so few of them, though, a single renewal negotiation can move the whole company.
Yield and coverage: The $1.0625 quarterly dividend comes to $4.25 a year, a 6.16% yield. Income investors should remember that the payout was cut from $1.565 starting with the June 2025 ex-date. AFFO per share guidance was raised to $4.53 to $4.65, and the dividend uses 92.6% of the midpoint. It is covered, but by the narrowest margin of the three. Management calls the dividend “sacrosanct.”
Bull case: Sale proceeds paid down more than $7B of debt and funded a $1B buyback. All remaining debt is fixed-rate at 3.7%. Q2 AFFO rose to $488M (+10% YoY). More than 90% of 2026 organic growth was already contracted by the end of Q2, with 2026 expected to mark the low point for organic growth.
Risk: A large renewal with one of its big three carriers comes due in 2028, worth $774M annualized. Crown Castle will negotiate that renewal carrying net debt of 6.3x adjusted EBITDA and stockholders’ equity of $(3,270)M. The market is already pricing in some doubt: the stock is down 23.74% over the past year.
SBA Communications: Lowest Yield, Strongest Dividend Coverage SBA Communications owns 46,358 communication sites worldwide. Site leasing produces 98.2% of operating profit. In Q2, domestic site leasing revenue fell to $452.4M (-3.7%), while international site leasing grew to $211.4M (+30.5%) on Central America build-to-suit towers for a regional carrier. SBA built 109 towers in the quarter and expects approximately 600 for the year. Part of its international growth comes from local CPI-linked rent escalators.
Tenant concentration: Carrier consolidation is the main tenant risk here. SBA expects $56M of Sprint consolidation churn and another $56M of DISH-related churn in FY2026. When the tenant base shrinks, SBA loses leases.
Yield and coverage: The $1.25 quarterly dividend yields 2.93%. SBA has the lowest yield in the group and the most room to grow the payout. The dividend uses just 41.1% of the $12.175 AFFO per share guidance midpoint. The quarterly payment has climbed from $0.37 in 2019, and CEO Brendan Cavanagh says “we expect to continue growing our dividend at the highest growth rate in the industry.”
Bull case: S&P upgraded SBA to BBB investment grade, and the company issued its first $3.5B of unsecured notes. The FCC plans to auction 160 MHz of upper C-band spectrum beginning in April 2027. Management says “share buybacks are the best use of capital at current valuation levels,” and $1.1B of buyback authorization remains.
Risk: Interest rates. Net interest expense climbed 9.5% YoY, and net income fell 12.9% to $198.78M. The company assumes its $1.2 billion November ABS maturity will be refinanced at 5.25%, on total debt of about $13 billion. If refinancing costs come in higher, the AFFO that funds dividend growth shrinks.
Tower REITs Offer Covered Dividends Ahead of a 2027 Spectrum Cycle Several factors support the income case for towers. All three dividends are covered by AFFO, rents are contracted for years, and a new spectrum cycle starts in 2027. SBA has the safest coverage and the best dividend-growth potential. American Tower offers the most balanced mix of yield, coverage and diversification. Crown Castle’s ultra-high yield comes with 93% carrier concentration, a cut in its recent history and the thinnest AFFO buffer of the three, so its 2028 renewal is the item to watch.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
HOUSTON, Sept. 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE: CCI) ("Crown Castle") plans to release its third quarter 2026 results on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, after the market closes. In conjunction with the release, Crown Castle has scheduled a conference call for Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 4:45 p.m. eastern time.
A listen only live audio webcast of the conference call, along with any supplemental materials, can be accessed on the Crown Castle website at https://investor.crowncastle.com. Participants may join the conference call by dialing 833-816-1115 (Toll Free) or 412-317-0694 (International) at least 30 minutes prior to the start time. All dial-in participants should ask to join the Crown Castle call. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Investor page of Crown Castle’s website until end of day, Thursday, October 21, 2027.
ABOUT CROWN CASTLE
Crown Castle owns, operates and leases approximately 40,000 cell towers across the U.S. This nationwide portfolio serves as the foundation of wireless connectivity that provides cities and communities access to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas, innovations and the connectivity of modern life to help people and businesses thrive. For more information on Crown Castle, please visit www.crowncastle.com.
CONTACTS
Sunit Patel, CFO
Hamilton West, VP & Treasurer
Crown Castle Inc.
713-570-3050
Crown Castle Inc. (CCI) RBC Capital Markets 2026 Global Communications and Infrastructure Conference September 29, 2026 10:50 AM EDT
Company Participants
Sunit Patel - Executive VP & CFO
Conference Call Participants
Jonathan Atkin - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division
Presentation
Jonathan Atkin
RBC Capital Markets, Research Division
I'm Jon Atkin with RBC. I cover the communications infrastructure stocks. And with me is Sunit Patel, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Crown Castle. Welcome, Sunit.
Sunit Patel
Executive VP & CFO
Thank you.
Question-and-Answer Session
Jonathan Atkin
RBC Capital Markets, Research Division
Just a couple of [indiscernible]. So that's kind of top of mind. Anything that you're kind of seeing, what your advisers are telling you perhaps to expect in the future about the impact of AI on mobile traffic and what implications that might have for the mobile infrastructure sector?
Sunit Patel
Executive VP & CFO
Sure. Yes, I think we spent time with both manufacturers of antennas, radio gear, with our clients. What I would say is AI is a clear positive for mobile data demand. It will manifest in several ways. And many of you have heard about physical AI, a lot of physical AI will rest on mobile data traffic transmission. And also with AI, there's a lot more information being gathered or loaded up, if you like, for inference purposes. And so it's going to change the downlink-uplink ratio of traffic. So historically, most of the traffic, whether it's to the home or even on your mobile phones has been traffic coming in. So it's more like 80% download, 20% upload. So that ratio is expected to change. There are quite a few research reports out on that, but it could be as much as 60% download 40% upload. We're still at the beginning. So it's a really good -- I think it would be a good demand driver for mobile data traffic over the next few years. That's positive for us and mobile
Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 153,323 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $11,611,000.
Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,326,154,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $594,670,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $456,897,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth about $429,341,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth about $348,779,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms have commented on CCI. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Crown Castle from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.86.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Crown Castle Crown Castle Trading Down 0.0% Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $73.03 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.07, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.72 and a twelve month high of $100.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.47.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.18. The firm 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.
Crown Castle Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.74%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle In related news, VP Robert Collins sold 1,500 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total value of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.
Crown Castle Profile (Free Report)
Crown Castle Inc (NYSE: CCI) is a communications infrastructure company that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure in the United States. Its assets support wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and other communications providers by enabling the transmission of voice, data and video services.
The company’s primary infrastructure includes cell towers and other tower sites that host antennas and related equipment. Crown Castle has also developed and operated fiber networks and small-cell systems, which help wireless providers expand network capacity and coverage in densely populated areas and along high-traffic corridors.
Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Houston, Texas, Crown Castle has historically served customers across major U.S.
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Crown Castle slashed its dividend and shed billions in assets to survive, but the question haunting income investors is whether what remains actually holds together or sets up a second cut.
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Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI | CCI Price Prediction) reset its payout more than a year ago, and the new rate has held. The dividend record shows the quarterly payment dropped from $1.565 per share to $1.0625 per share, with the rebased amount first appearing on the June 13, 2025 ex-dividend date. Every distribution since, through the September 15, 2026 ex-date, has been paid at the same $1.0625 rate. The real question for an income buyer is straightforward: is the smaller dividend a safer one?
What the Payout Looks Like Today Crown Castle trades at $73.06 as of September 18, 2026, giving the $4.25 annualized dividend a yield of roughly 5.8%. That sits meaningfully above the 4.94% yield on the 10-year Treasury, but the equity has hardly been a placid income vehicle. Shares are down 17.36% over the past year and 50.4% over five.
Coverage: Read It on AFFO, Not EPS Because Crown Castle is a REIT, earnings understate cash generation. The right lens is adjusted funds from operations, which adds back non-cash depreciation on tower assets. Management’s raised 2026 guide puts AFFO at a midpoint of $1,975M, or $4.59 per share, against the $4.25 annualized dividend. That is real coverage with room to spare, and CFO commentary on the July 22 call noted the $1 billion share repurchase lowered annual dividend obligations by $47 million.
Why the Reset Happened Towers throw off steady cash, but Crown Castle had layered on a capital-hungry fiber and small-cell arm plus heavy debt. The company sold both units to EQT and Zayo for $8.5 billion, closed May 1, 2026, and directed proceeds to repay more than $7 billion of debt. Net debt now sits at 6.3x LQA adjusted EBITDA, inside the 6 to 6.5x investment-grade target range, with debt 100% fixed-rate at a 3.7% weighted average.
CEO Chris Hillabrant framed the rebased payout in unmistakable terms on the Q2 call, calling it “sacrosanct” and describing the capital priorities as “funding our dividend” first, then capex, then leverage, then buybacks.
Peers Give Perspective The two closest comparisons are American Tower (NYSE:AMT), the diversified global operator with a longer uninterrupted raise history, and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC), which historically prioritizes buybacks and carries a smaller yield. Crown Castle now offers the highest headline yield of the three, but it earned that premium by breaking trust once (the seven warning signs that a big yield is about to be cut are all in our free dividend traps report). Tenant concentration is also stark: T-Mobile 42%, AT&T 28%, Verizon 23% account for 93% of site rental revenue, and the 2028 AT&T lease renewals ($774M annualized) loom.
Verdict for Income The rebased dividend is covered by AFFO, backed by an investment-grade balance sheet, and endorsed as a top-priority use of cash by management. Analysts hold a $94.82 average target versus today’s price. For income investors willing to accept single-customer concentration risk and equity volatility in exchange for a 5.8% yield with real coverage, the coverage case holds up.
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Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) could be a solid addition to your portfolio given its recent upgrade to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). This upgrade is essentially a reflection of an upward trend in earnings estimates -- one of the most powerful forces impacting stock prices.
A company's changing earnings picture is at the core of the Zacks rating. The system tracks the Zacks Consensus Estimate -- the consensus measure of EPS estimates from the sell-side analysts covering the stock -- for the current and following years.
Since a changing earnings picture is a powerful factor influencing near-term stock price movements, the Zacks rating system is very useful for individual investors. They may find it difficult to make decisions based on rating upgrades by Wall Street analysts, as these are mostly driven by subjective factors that are hard to see and measure in real time.
Therefore, the Zacks rating upgrade for Crown Castle basically reflects positivity about its earnings outlook that could translate into buying pressure and an increase in its stock price.
Most Powerful Force Impacting Stock PricesThe change in a company's future earnings potential, as reflected in earnings estimate revisions, has proven to be strongly correlated with the near-term price movement of its stock. The influence of institutional investors has a partial contribution to this relationship, as these big professionals use earnings and earnings estimates to calculate the fair value of a company's shares. An increase or decrease in earnings estimates in their valuation models simply results in higher or lower fair value for a stock, and institutional investors typically buy or sell it. Their transaction of large amounts of shares then leads to price movement for the stock.
Fundamentally speaking, rising earnings estimates and the consequent rating upgrade for Crown Castle imply an improvement in the company's underlying business. Investors should show their appreciation for this improving business trend by pushing the stock higher.
Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate RevisionsAs empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock movements, tracking such revisions for making an investment decision could be truly rewarding. Here is where the tried-and-tested Zacks Rank stock-rating system plays an important role, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions.
The Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
Earnings Estimate Revisions for Crown CastleThis operator of wireless communications towers is expected to earn $4.57 per share for the fiscal year ending December 2026, which represents no year-over-year change.
Analysts have been steadily raising their estimates for Crown Castle. Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company has increased 3.7%.
Bottom LineUnlike the overly optimistic Wall Street analysts whose rating systems tend to be weighted toward favorable recommendations, the Zacks rating system maintains an equal proportion of "buy" and "sell" ratings for its entire universe of more than 4,000 stocks at any point in time. Irrespective of market conditions, only the top 5% of the Zacks-covered stocks get a "Strong Buy" rating and the next 15% get a "Buy" rating. So, the placement of a stock in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks indicates its superior earnings estimate revision feature, making it a solid candidate for producing market-beating returns in the near term.
You can learn more about the Zacks Rank here >>>
The upgrade of Crown Castle to a Zacks Rank #2 positions it in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks in terms of estimate revisions, implying that the stock might move higher in the near term.
REITs have disappointed for years, but cycles eventually turn. Today's setup looks very different from the past decade. Low valuations could make even modest growth highly rewarding.
Some of the most hated REIT sectors may offer the biggest upside. European REITs trade at unusually steep NAV discounts. Life science and tower REITs could recover as sentiment turns.
I am started here with the next session. So really pleased to have Kris Hinson from Crown Castle here with us today, kind of continuing -- this is nice we've actually -- we've included a lot of tower companies on the same day of the presentations. Yesterday was data center day and today is Power Day. So it's nice to continue that conversation and kind of the same questions and narrative that I know a lot of investors want to hear. So I'm going to -- well, first of all, Kris, thank you.
Thank you for coming. And just for the audience, I will allow about 5 minutes at the end if you have any questions. They will walk around with a microphone. So just raise your hand when I mention that, and we'll make time for you as well, please.
Question-and-Answer Session
Michael Funk
BofA Securities, Research Division
So back to my point, I'm going to open the same way I did with Mark earlier, where investors are, I think, very focused on trying to determine when we're going to see growth inflection positive in the tower industry. And the way I think that Crown Castle has talked about it is this being a low point for growth, right, this year because of a number of headwinds. So can you take us from that low point in growth and what factors are going to drive accelerating rent growth?
Michael Rollins - Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Presentation
Michael Rollins
Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Good morning to everyone again. And before we begin, disclosures are available at the registration desk. And for those of you that I haven't met, I'm Mike Rollins, and I cover communication services and infrastructure for Citi. We're pleased to welcome Kris Hinson, Chief Commercial Officer of Crown Castle. Kris, thank you so much for joining us, and congratulations on your new role. It's, I think, the first time that we're sitting down together since you took the new responsibilities.
It is. Yes, it's great to be here. Thanks a lot for having us.
Question-and-Answer Session
Michael Rollins
Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Kris, maybe just to get us started, love to learn a little bit more about your new responsibilities and just to kind of set the stage for our conversation, what you're focused on for Crown Castle?
Sure. I think that both me going into this role and where I'm focused is well aligned with where Crown Castle has been focused since we announced the sale of our Fiber and Small Cell business. We are the only large publicly traded tower company that's focused exclusively on the U.S. And I think that focus has played out well. You've seen the efficiencies that we've already been able to take with the business. I think on the commercial side, my focus has been very closely related to that, which as we have made this transition to a tower-only company, we need to make sure that the commercial org is set
Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR – Get Free Report) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) are both large-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.
Profitability This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Crown Castle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Digital Realty Trust 11.80% 3.34% 1.59% Crown Castle 20.71% -51.60% 3.70% Analyst Recommendations This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Digital Realty Trust and Crown Castle, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Digital Realty Trust 0 6 25 1 2.84 Crown Castle 0 12 7 2 2.52 Digital Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $219.45, indicating a potential upside of 16.51%. Crown Castle has a consensus target price of $95.13, indicating a potential upside of 25.58%. Given Crown Castle’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than Digital Realty Trust. Insider & Institutional Ownership 99.7% of Digital Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Crown Castle shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Digital Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Dividends Digital Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Digital Realty Trust pays out 236.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Crown Castle pays out 215.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Crown Castle is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Earnings and Valuation This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Crown Castle”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Digital Realty Trust $6.11 billion 11.43 $1.31 billion $2.06 91.43 Crown Castle $4.26 billion 7.56 $444.00 million $1.97 38.45 Digital Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Crown Castle. Crown Castle is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Digital Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility and Risk Digital Realty Trust has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crown Castle has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary Digital Realty Trust beats Crown Castle on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
(Get Free Report)
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming. The company was founded on March 9, 2004, and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.
About Crown Castle (Get Free Report)
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.
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American Tower and Crown Castle both raised guidance and cut dividend checks this month, but the coverage math behind those payouts tells a story that should make income investors look twice before treating them as equals.
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Two of the largest cell tower REITs just wrote investors checks, and the payout coverage math tells opposite stories. American Tower (NYSE:AMT | AMT Price Prediction) paid $1.79 per share on July 13, 2026, its second straight quarter at a rate that runs 5.3% above the prior year. Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) paid $1.0625 per share for the June 30 record period, the sixth consecutive quarter at that reset rate after a 32% cut that took effect with the March 2025 payment.
Both operators raised full-year AFFO guidance in July. Only one has the coverage cushion to back the checks it is writing.
American Tower: Payout Coverage Grade A- American Tower is running an annualized dividend rate of $7.16 per share against a full-year 2026 attributable AFFO outlook of $11.00 to $11.17 per share. At the midpoint, that is roughly a 65% AFFO payout ratio, leaving meaningful headroom for reinvestment, buybacks, and further deleveraging.
The Q2 2026 earnings report reinforced the coverage math. Operating cash flow reached $1.487 billion against a dividend outlay of $834.7 million and capex of $320.9 million. Net leverage finished at 4.9 times, inside management’s target range of three to five times. CFO Rod Smith framed the priority stack plainly: “First and foremost, it’s supporting the dividend and a growing dividend.”
The engine underneath is diversifying. CoreSite delivered double-digit revenue growth for the fifth consecutive quarter, and management raised its 2026 data-center revenue growth outlook to approximately 15% from a prior 13%. Steve Vondran told investors 2026 is the trough for attributable AFFO per share growth, with mid-to-high single-digit growth expected to return in 2027 as DISH churn and refinancing costs ease.
Crown Castle: Payout Coverage Grade C Crown Castle is paying an annualized $4.25 per share against 2026 AFFO guidance of $4.53 to $4.65 per share. That works out to an AFFO payout ratio of roughly 93% at the midpoint. There is no cushion for downside surprises, and management has been explicit about how thin the buffer is. A payout that already absorbed a 32% cut and now runs this close to AFFO is exactly the setup we flagged in a free report on the seven warning signs a big dividend is about to be trimmed.
CEO Chris Hillebrand described the dividend as “sacrosanct” and said any excess cash after funding it goes first to the target investment-grade leverage range of six to six and a half times net debt to EBITDA. Quarter-end leverage sat at 6.3 times, and total net leverage of 6.1x is now within striking distance of the 7.0x covenant ceiling.
Sale proceeds from the $8.4 billion fiber and small cell divestiture funded a $1 billion buyback that retired more than 11 million shares and trimmed the annual dividend obligation by $47 million. Tenant concentration remains the bigger overhang. T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon together account for 93% of site rental revenues, and Crown Castle is pursuing a $3.5 billion contractual claim against DISH Wireless in bankruptcy court.
Head to Head on the Numbers Metric American Tower Crown Castle Latest quarterly dividend $1.79 $1.0625 YoY dividend change +5.3% Unchanged (after 32% cut) 2026 AFFO payout ratio (midpoint) ~65% ~93% Net leverage 4.9x 6.3x YTD price change +2.24% -12.59% What to Watch Next For American Tower, the key checkpoint is the pace of CoreSite lease-up and whether 2027 delivers the promised inflection back to mid-to-high single-digit AFFO growth. Management has committed over $700 million in 2026 capital to data-center capacity, and Vondran said the company is still underwriting mid-teens or better stabilized yields on those investments.
For Crown Castle, the near-term catalysts are the DISH bankruptcy proceedings and progress toward the promised couple-hundred-basis-point EBITDA margin expansion. Full-year 2026 organic growth, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, guides to 3.4%, with more than 90% of that already contracted. Keep an eye on the stock as the escrow account tied to the AT&T-EchoStar spectrum deal takes shape: a favorable recovery could ease the coverage math that currently separates these two REITs by a full letter grade.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 56,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $4,310,000.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,930,797 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,460,000 after purchasing an additional 511,763 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Crown Castle by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,025,433 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $535,480,000 after buying an additional 403,943 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,506,580 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $489,370,000 after buying an additional 54,078 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 101,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,002,000 after buying an additional 12,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 123.8% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 36,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,206,000 after acquiring an additional 19,962 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Crown Castle Stock Performance Crown Castle stock opened at $75.70 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.72 and a 52 week high of $100.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.95.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.17). Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 51.60% and a net margin of 20.71%.The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The company’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. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Crown Castle Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is currently 215.74%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,025.57. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets CCI has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. Wolfe Research lowered Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.13.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Crown Castle
About Crown Castle (Free Report)
Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.
Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.
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The direct-to-device space economy entered a new competitive phase in August 2026.
SpaceX Today
$143.73 +2.23 (+1.58%)
As of 08/31/2026 04:00 PM Eastern
$104.83▼
$225.64$220.20
SpaceX NASDAQ: SPCX formally outlined ambitions to challenge telecom giants with Starlink Mobile, while competitors race to get their own satellite arrays ready for consumer availability.
This escalation naturally raises questions about the future of traditional ground infrastructure. If cellular coverage blankets the globe from low-Earth orbit, investors rightly wonder whether the steel towers anchoring modern telecommunications will face sudden obsolescence.
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The market has occasionally punished earthbound telecom stocks on the premise of satellite disruption. Beneath the headlines, however, lies a harsh physical and financial reality. The physics of bandwidth and the capital required to replicate urban network density suggest a very different outcome.
Ground-level macro towers are not being replaced; they are being complemented. By examining the limitations of space-based networks, a clear picture emerges of why terrestrial incumbents maintain a moat over satellite challengers.
Orbital Telecom Vs. Terrestrial YieldsThe telecommunications sector is experiencing a structural shift as orbital assets come online. Translating that shift into portfolio strategy requires looking past the launch hype and focusing heavily on capital allocation and network physics.
Firing the First Shot in the Satellite Telecom WarThe timeline for space-based cellular is accelerating as we approach the end of summer. During a highly anticipated August 2026 earnings call, SpaceX management detailed plans for a competitive terrestrial network.
The primary goal is to leverage Starlink's expanding orbital footprint to beam connectivity directly to unmodified consumer smartphones worldwide. This builds on the approximately $19.6 billion mid-band spectrum acquisition SpaceX made from EchoStar, transitioning the aerospace firm from shared spectrum agreements to owning exclusive bandwidth.
SpaceX is not alone in this orbital land grab. AST SpaceMobile NASDAQ: ASTS recently deployed its latest BlueBird satellites, securing a targeted fourth-quarter commercial launch alongside US Mobile. These technological milestones successfully address the rural coverage divide, a persistent headache for legacy carriers.
Beaming a signal from space easily connects a hiker in Wyoming or a rural farming operation. The disruption narrative currently weighing on the market suggests these deployments will eventually bleed into high-density suburban and urban markets, eating into the core market share of ground-based operators.
The $130 Billion Reality CheckProviding text messages to remote areas is a solved problem. Streaming high-definition video in a packed metropolitan stadium via satellite is an entirely different physics equation. Low-Earth orbit satellites face severe spectrum constraints and signal degradation when attempting to penetrate urban foliage, thick concrete buildings, and severe weather systems.
Bank of America NYSE: BAC recently issued a decisive defense of legacy infrastructure, noting that SpaceX's proposed network topology would be difficult to scale for high-density capacity. The company has proposed consumer-mounted femtocells to bypass standard towers. The financial barrier to scaling this technology, however, would be steep. Bernstein analysts estimate that building a standalone mobile network to rival existing carriers would require roughly $50 billion to $130 billion in capital expenditures.
To replicate the dense capacity of existing outdoor networks without traditional cell towers, operators would theoretically need hundreds of millions of micro-receivers scattered across the country. Satellite telecom is poised to act as a crucial, highly profitable complementary layer designed to close global dead zones. However, it currently lacks the physical capacity to carry the terabytes of data generated by urban centers without macro-tower power, heavy fiber backhaul, and established municipal permitting.
Crown Castle's 5.6% Yield Is Hiding in Plain SightThis physical limitation creates a highly favorable environment for restructured terrestrial operators. Crown Castle NYSE: CCI recently executed a fundamental pivot, selling its fiber and small-cell segments to EQT Holdings and Zayo for approximately $8.5 billion. By shedding these capital-intensive divisions, Crown Castle transformed back into a pure-play United States macro tower real estate investment trust (REIT).
Crown Castle Today
CCI
Crown Castle
$76.25 +0.11 (+0.14%)
As of 08/31/2026 03:58 PM Eastern
$69.72▼
$100.505.57%
38.71
$95.13
Management used this strategic divestiture to reset Crown Castle's capital allocation framework. The annualized dividend was adjusted to roughly $4.25 per share, establishing a highly sustainable adjusted funds from operations payout ratio of around 75% to 80%. Currently trading near $76, the stock offers an estimated 5.6% yield.
Recent intrinsic value models suggest Crown Castle trades at a severe discount, approaching 33% below discounted cash flow estimates. The market has temporarily mispriced the REIT due to the combination of its dividend reset and misplaced fears regarding satellite disruption. For value-oriented investors, Crown Castle represents a streamlined infrastructure asset operating securely within a well-established moat.
American Tower's Defensive EdgeWhile Crown Castle focuses entirely on the domestic market, American Tower NYSE: AMT leverages its global footprint and strategic balance sheet management to defend its position. Recognizing shifting macroeconomic headwinds in emerging markets in early 2024, American Tower management decided to temporarily pause its long-running streak of aggressive dividend growth.
American Tower Today
AMT
American Tower
$175.94 -0.29 (-0.16%)
As of 08/31/2026 03:58 PM Eastern
$160.06▼
$205.214.07%
24.20
$215.29
That period of financial conservatism proved strictly temporary. American Tower resumed its dividend growth trajectory in March 2025, bumping the quarterly payout to $1.70 per share. As of March 2026, the cash distribution was raised further to $1.79 per share. With shares currently trading around $176, this renewed dividend expansion signals management’s confidence in the underlying business model, shrugging off the perceived threat of orbital telecom disruption.
By deleveraging during that 2024 pause, American Tower created the financial flexibility required to absorb incoming capital expenditure demands.
The enterprise is actively investing in edge computing data centers situated at the base of its existing cell towers.
This edge strategy acts as a direct hedge against localized telecom disruption. As artificial intelligence applications demand lower latency and higher processing power at the local level, American Tower is transforming its real estate into decentralized computing hubs. This evolution helps ensure that American Tower remains indispensable to modern data transmission, regardless of whether a signal originates from a nearby cell phone or a low Earth orbit satellite.
Positioning Portfolios for the Telecom Infrastructure ShiftThe commercialization of space-based mobile networks is an undeniable technological triumph. Companies launching these satellites will likely generate substantial revenue by connecting the most remote regions of the world and partnering with existing telecom giants to fill coverage gaps.
However, the terrestrial cell tower remains the undisputed backbone of global, high-density telecommunications. The physical necessity of ground-level power, fiber connections, and raw localized bandwidth protects the cash flows of incumbent tower operators.
Investors may want to monitor pure-play tower REITs such as Crown Castle and diversified operators such as American Tower, as their current valuations appear disconnected from the enduring reality of their infrastructure moats. Evaluating these equities during periods of satellite-driven market noise could provide a strategic entry point before the market fully prices in the limitations of orbital bandwidth.
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Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 64,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $4,891,000.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the second quarter valued at about $2,678,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $219,000. Commerce Bank purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,271,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $629,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.13.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on CCI Crown Castle Trading Down 0.2% CCI stock opened at $76.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.98. The company has a market capitalization of $32.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.71, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.72 and a twelve month high of $102.19.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.
Crown Castle Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.74%.
Insider Activity In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This trade represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.
About Crown Castle (Free Report)
Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.
Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.
Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Crown Castle Pathward’s Credit Scare Tests Its Comeback Story Wiring the AI Boom: Rumble’s $13.7B Pivot StoneX: Too Far Too Fast? DICK’s Sporting Goods Faces Pain Now for a Bigger Prize Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CCI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report).
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Ally Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 13,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $984,000.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Crown Castle Price Performance CCI opened at $75.53 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.72 and a fifty-two week high of $104.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.13 billion, a PE ratio of 38.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.86 and its 200 day moving average is $84.10.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.05 million. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 51.60% and a net margin of 20.71%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.530-4.650 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year. Crown Castle Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently 215.74%.
Analyst Ratings Changes CCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.13.
View Our Latest Report on CCI
Insider Transactions at Crown Castle In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.89, for a total transaction of $113,835.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,025.57. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.
About Crown Castle (Free Report)
Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.
Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.
Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Crown Castle VIG, VYM, and VYMI: Which Vanguard Dividend ETF Is Right for You? 3 Closed-End Funds to Maximize Dividend Payments Rocket Lab’s Sell-Off Is Fading—Is It Finally Safe to Buy? $27 Billion in Buybacks: 3 Stocks Betting Their Strong Runs Aren’t Over Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CCI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report).
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Emerald Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 17,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,000.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the second quarter worth approximately $3,326,154,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at $594,670,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 124.2% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,635,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,034,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,445,237 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 2nd quarter valued at $429,341,000. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,536,214,000 after acquiring an additional 3,953,685 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 1,500 shares of Crown Castle 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 approximately $388,025.57. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.
Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2% Shares of CCI stock opened at $75.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.13 billion, a PE ratio of 38.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.11. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.72 and a twelve month high of $104.61. Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.17). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. Equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.
Crown Castle Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.74%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Crown Castle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $88.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.13.
Get Our Latest Report on CCI
Crown Castle Company Profile (Free Report)
Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.
Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.
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rose 0.47% premarket after Barclays upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equalweight while cutting its price target to $84 from $92.
Analyst Brendon Lynch attributes part of this year's weakness to fears that Crown Castle is more exposed than international peers to satellite competition. Barclays disagrees, arguing SpaceX's
SPCX -4.84% 15
Starlink has an interest in a terrestrial network that is a net positive for towers. It also pushes back on readings of the reduced 2026 services gross margin guidance as a signal of slowing leasing, saying the historical correlation between the two has been weak. The firm models core leasing accelerating to 2.0% in 2027 from 1.7% this year, contributing 4.2% organic growth in site rental billings.
Barclays argues Crown Castle should trade above peers because the US has been the strongest tower market. Shares trade at 15.0x 2027 estimated adjusted funds from operations, a 6.7% AFFO yield. With the fiber sale done, net debt at 6.3x and a simpler business, the firm sees room to re-rate, and points to a covered 5.7% dividend yield.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) and Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI – Get Free Report) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.
Dividends Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Farmland Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Crown Castle pays out 215.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Farmland Partners pays out 70.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Earnings and Valuation This table compares Crown Castle and Farmland Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Crown Castle $4.16 billion 7.57 $444.00 million $1.97 37.58 Farmland Partners $51.47 million 8.46 $31.55 million $0.51 19.57 Crown Castle has higher revenue and earnings than Farmland Partners. Farmland Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crown Castle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations This is a summary of recent recommendations for Crown Castle and Farmland Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.
Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Crown Castle 0 12 7 2 2.52 Farmland Partners 0 4 0 0 2.00 Crown Castle presently has a consensus target price of $95.13, indicating a potential upside of 28.49%. Given Crown Castle’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than Farmland Partners.
Risk & Volatility Crown Castle has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmland Partners has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability This table compares Crown Castle and Farmland Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Crown Castle 20.71% -51.60% 3.70% Farmland Partners 49.85% 5.54% 3.58% Insider & Institutional Ownership 90.8% of Crown Castle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Farmland Partners shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary Crown Castle beats Farmland Partners on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Crown Castle (Get Free Report)
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.
(Get Free Report)
Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns and/or manages approximately 171,100 acres in 16 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. In addition, the Company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. The Company has approximately 26 crop types and over 100 tenants. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.
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I love investing in infrastructure due to its combination of yield, growth, and cash flow stability. Whenever quality infrastructure assets go on a fire sale, it gets my attention. I take a look at two attractive opportunities that just saw their stock prices plunge.
Investors have spent the last few years chasing the shiniest object in the market. In other words, artificial intelligence (AI). But there's a "safer" trade taking shape underneath the AI headlines; one built on wires, towers, and steel that the country has been neglecting for decades. It doesn't come with a flashy multiple, but it offers regular income and lower volatility.
Get National Grid Transco alerts:
Why Infrastructure Stocks Are Back in Focus in 2026In 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The idea was to jump-start the repair of the country's aging infrastructure. This means investing in traditional infrastructure projects like fixing roads and bridges, updating the electrical grid, and advancements in water and desalination.
That money has been consistently flowing into the economy. However, many investors considering infrastructure investments are looking at artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. That's understandable when you consider that billions of dollars are being spent to build the data centers and supporting infrastructure for this generational technology shift.
But in 2026, many investors have grown tired of the AI trade amid its volatility. That's putting some old-school infrastructure stocks back in favor. In addition to the forecasted stock price gains for each of these names, investors receive a high-yield dividend above the current elevated inflation rate.
National Grid Offers a High-Yield Play on Grid ModernizationNational Grid Transco Dividend Payments5.30%
$4.31
-0.13%
Jul. 23
NGG Dividend History
At first glance, National Grid Transco NYSE: NGG looks like a boring, regulated utility company. However, the company is powering a transatlantic grid overhaul, connecting North Sea renewables while the US accounts for nearly 45% of its operations.
That dual-market footprint is exactly what makes National Gas interesting right now. The London-based company has operations in the United Kingdom and the Northeast United States.
On the UK side, the company is tapping offshore wind from the North Sea into a grid that was built for a different energy era. On the US side, its New England and New York utilities are seeing a surge in demand from data centers. The questions that accompany that demand are a key reason NGG has drawn a mixed set of recent analyst opinions.
As of this writing, NGG shares trade around $80.82, and the stock carries a consensus price target of $85.50, roughly 5.7% above current levels. That's a modest near-term forecast, which is reinforced by the current Wall Street consensus rating of Reduce.
Where NGG earns its spot on this list is the income side. The stock pays an annual dividend of $4.31 per share with a yield of about 5.30%, comfortably ahead of both the utility sector average and the broader market.
The payout is supported by a roughly 71% payout ratio, and National Grid has kept a dividend streak alive for 19 consecutive years. For investors willing to look past lukewarm analyst sentiment in exchange for a well-covered, high-single-digit yield tied to two of the developed world's biggest grid modernization efforts, NGG is a smart play on the "boring but beautiful" theme.
American Tower Stock Gets a Boost From 5G and Data CentersAmerican Tower Dividend Payments4.16%
$7.16
1 Year
8.46%
98.49%
Jul. 13
AMT Dividend History
Many investors are coming back to the 5G trade, and American Tower NYSE: AMT is a leading name to consider.
American Tower is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and develops wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure.
In the case of AMT, a significant part of the bull case comes from data centers. That's what management said in the company's Q2 2026 earnings report as it raised its full-year 2026 outlook for the second time.
Institutional investors own over 90% of the stock's float and have increased their buying significantly since Q4 2025. But the stock price hasn't caught up yet. AMT is down nearly 40% in the last five years, and over 15% in the trailing 12 months.
However, the stock is now sitting about 23% below its consensus price target of $215.14. Plus, the stock's attractive dividend yield of roughly 4.13% has an annual payout per share of $7.16.
Crown Castle Could Benefit From Growing Data Center DemandCrown Castle Dividend Payments5.71%
$4.25
-0.74%
215.74%
Sep. 15
CCI Dividend History
Crown Castle NYSE: CCI is another REIT to consider in the infrastructure trade.
Like American Tower, Crown Castle reports that its tower business is benefiting from a growing data center tailwind. The opportunity is that the market doesn't appear to have priced in that growth.
Institutional ownership in CCI stock is over 90%, and buying was strong in Q2 2026. However, that hasn't meant much for the stock, which is down nearly 16% in 2026 and over 61% in the last five years.
Much of the stock’s recent performance follows a mixed first-quarter report in which Crown Castle beat earnings expectations, but revenue still declined nearly 5% from the prior year.
But like AMT, CCI is trading about 27% below its consensus price target of 95.13. Investors can also tap into the company's high-yield dividend of about 5.69%, which means investors can get paid to wait on the market to reprice the stock.
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Should You Invest $1,000 in National Grid Transco Right Now?Before you consider National Grid Transco, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and National Grid Transco wasn't on the list.
While National Grid Transco currently has a Reduce rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
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The AI boom extends far beyond the biggest tech names. Discover 10 companies supplying the memory, storage, networking, semiconductor manufacturing, and power infrastructure that make AI possible. Learn where the next wave of AI investment opportunities may emerge—and the key risks investors should watch as the global AI buildout accelerates.
Assetmark Inc. decreased its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE: CCI) by 91.2% during the undefined quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,922 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 19,925 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in
Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE: CCI) by 4.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,054,126 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 49,485 shares during the period.
Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR – Get Free Report) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) are both large-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.
Risk and Volatility Extra Space Storage has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crown Castle has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings This table compares Extra Space Storage and Crown Castle”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Extra Space Storage $3.45 billion 9.17 $974.00 million $4.53 33.03 Crown Castle $4.16 billion 8.06 $444.00 million $1.97 39.00 Extra Space Storage has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Crown Castle. Extra Space Storage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crown Castle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability This table compares Extra Space Storage and Crown Castle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Extra Space Storage 27.80% 6.70% 3.27% Crown Castle 20.71% -51.60% 3.70% Dividends Extra Space Storage pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Extra Space Storage pays out 143.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Crown Castle pays out 215.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Extra Space Storage has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.
Institutional and Insider Ownership 99.1% of Extra Space Storage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Crown Castle shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Extra Space Storage shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Extra Space Storage and Crown Castle, as provided by MarketBeat.
Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Extra Space Storage 0 10 6 0 2.38 Crown Castle 0 12 7 2 2.52 Extra Space Storage presently has a consensus target price of $147.73, suggesting a potential downside of 1.26%. Crown Castle has a consensus target price of $95.13, suggesting a potential upside of 23.82%. Given Crown Castle’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than Extra Space Storage.
Summary Extra Space Storage beats Crown Castle on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Extra Space Storage (Get Free Report)
Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a self-administered and self-managed REIT and a member of the S&P 500. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned and/or operated 3,714 self-storage stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C. The Company's stores comprise approximately 2.6 million units and approximately 283.0 million square feet of rentable space operating under the Extra Space, Life Storage and Storage Express brands. The Company offers customers a wide selection of conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. It is the largest operator of self-storage properties in the United States.
About Crown Castle (Get Free Report)
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.
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Cell-tower real estate investment trusts (REITs) American Tower (NYSE:AMT | AMT Price Prediction) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) are beaten down and trading near one-year lows.
Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $106.00 to $98.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Crown Castle traded as low as $73.52 and last traded at $75.0030, with a volume of 608717 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $74.90.
Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. 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 target price for the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Crown Castle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.92.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Crown Castle
Institutional Inflows and Outflows Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 672,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,086,000 after buying an additional 60,497 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in Crown Castle by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,930,797 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,460,000 after acquiring an additional 511,763 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 262,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,288,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,052,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,551,000 after acquiring an additional 128,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,506,580 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $489,370,000 after acquiring an additional 54,078 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Crown Castle Stock Performance The company has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.63.
Crown Castle Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is 215.74%.
Crown Castle Company Profile (Get Free Report)
Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.
Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.
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ABN Amro Investment Solutions reduced its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI – Free Report) by 57.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 27,473 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Andra AP fonden boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 163.5% during the first quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 79,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,492,000 after buying an additional 49,543 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,325,747 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $514,320,000 after acquiring an additional 144,538 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in shares of Crown Castle by 17.5% in the first quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 41,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,395,000 after purchasing an additional 6,231 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Crown Castle by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 103,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,375,000 after buying an additional 9,338 shares during the period. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter worth about $7,272,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research firms have weighed in on CCI. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating and a $90.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.92.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Crown Castle
Crown Castle Stock Up 0.5% Shares of NYSE:CCI opened at $74.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.95. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.75 and a 12-month high of $113.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.74.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.71% and a negative return on equity of 51.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.
Crown Castle Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle’s payout ratio is presently 175.62%.
Crown Castle News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Crown Castle this week:
Positive Sentiment: Crown Castle beat Q2 expectations on key measures, including FFO and revenue, helped by lower interest expense. The company also updated full-year 2026 outlook, which suggests management sees improved operating momentum and progress from asset sales, debt repayment, and land investments. Crown Castle Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results and Updates Outlook for Full Year 2026 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain generally constructive despite trimming targets: Citigroup kept a buy rating, Citizens JMP kept market outperform, TD Cowen kept buy, and RBC kept outperform. Even with lower targets, the firms still see meaningful upside from current levels, signaling that expectations for CCI remain relatively favorable. Analyst price target updates Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analysts lowered price targets after the earnings release, including Citigroup to $98 from $106, Citizens JMP to $120 from $125, JPMorgan to $85 from $95, TD Cowen to $92 from $94, and RBC to $90 from $92. The cuts reflect a more cautious valuation stance, but not a bearish shift in ratings overall. Analyst price target updates Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage highlighted that Q2 results beat estimates even as site-rental revenue was affected by certain items, suggesting the quarter was solid but still showed some business mix or timing pressure. Crown Castle Q2 earnings beat even as site rental revenue impacted by items Negative Sentiment: Despite the earnings beat, the stock remains well below its recent highs, and the repeated target cuts may indicate analysts are resetting expectations for slower growth or a lower valuation multiple going forward. Analyst price target updates About Crown Castle (Free Report)
Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.
Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.
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Crown Castle (CCI) is becoming an interesting investment as a confluence of improved organic growth, reduced headwinds, and attractive valuation makes it potentially the most opportunistic it has been in a decade. However, there is simultaneously a massive unknown in the form of the terrestrial versus satellite debate. Scenario outcomes of this debate range from obsolescence of towers to getting a 4th major tower customer, making it the pivotal factor for the future of CCI.
We shall begin by discussing:
CCI’s strong 2Q26. Positive growth inflection. Opportunistic valuation. Then we will show that the market does not care about any of these factors as the satellite harbinger looms overhead.
If and when one can get a clear idea of where the satellite versus terrestrial debate will conclude, there could be tremendous opportunity in CCI stock.
CCI's Strong Quarter And Growth CCI had a strong quarter with upped AFFO guidance and an upward inflection in organic growth. A central point of their conference call was that 2026 was the trough of organic growth and that they see strong acceleration in the short, mid, and long term. Factors creating the upward inflection in growth are:
MLAs with visibility into near-term contractual growth. AT&T 600 megahertz spectrum closing. Mobile data usage is expected to double over 5 years. As more spectrum gets deployed and data usage increases, tower tenants will want more equipment installed on towers, which will come with increased rent to CCI.
Analyst consensus estimates show a very strong outlook for Crown Castle with AFFO/share expected to rise from $4.36 in 2025 to $6.05 in 2030.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
That growth rate is quite opportunistic relative to what is now a fairly cheap valuation.
CCI is trading at 16.7X 2026 AFFO.
Tower REITs have traditionally traded at AFFO multiples in the mid-20s and occasionally in the 30s.
We believe the now cheap valuation is the result of fear related to satellites as a potential competitor to macro towers. This can be clearly seen in the CCI trading action since the Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX) IPO.
CCI is down 18% even though the CCI-specific news has been positive in this period.
SA
SpaceX’s Starlink was already a potential threat to towers; the IPO merely made it front of mind for investors. In perception, it went from a potential future threat to being a highly visible part of one of the largest companies in the world.
On July 21st, SPCX launched an additional 24 satellites into its mega-constellation already consisting of over 10,000 low earth orbit satellites.
Starlink is unequivocally huge and powerful, but its impact on towers remains completely unknown.
The Pivotal Unknown I am not an engineer and do not have a full grasp on the subtleties in transmission that make satellites better or worse than a tower network. Thus, I can merely relay what I have heard from others who are more directly in the field.
The basic framework seems to be that satellites are great at covering massive areas inexpensively and reliably but perhaps less effective in highly congested areas.
Bears on the tower REITs worry that Starlink could be effective enough to disrupt the traditional cell carriers, which make up CCI’s tenant base.
Bulls believe Starlink or peer satellite companies could become a 4th major carrier and that they would use macro towers to supplement their satellites. Specifically, they would put equipment on macro towers in major population centers where towers tend to outperform and use satellites in rural areas. Thus, Starlink or peers could actually benefit the tower REIT industry in the form of an additional revenue source.
Christian Hillabrant is knowledgeable on the subject but also biased due to his role as CEO of CCI. He discussed satellites versus terrestrial networks at length on the 2Q26 call:
“Let me summarize the key reasons why we believe that terrestrial networks will continue to be an essential for mobile phone service based on reports available on the WIA website and analysis from sell-side research. First, satellite services generally require a clear line of sight to the sky and provide weaker indoor coverage, which is significant given approximately 90% of mobile usage occurs indoors or in vehicles. Because satellite signals travel hundreds of miles farther than the terrestrial connections, their signal strength is approximately 10,000x weaker, challenging performance in dense environments where buildings, obstructions and interference can further degrade the signal. To compensate for the weaker signal, phones must operate at higher transmit power levels, increasing battery consumption. Second, satellite operators have access to significantly less spectrum. Direct-to-device satellite services generally have access to only tens of megahertz of spectrum, while each major U.S. wireless carrier controls hundreds of megahertz. Third, a typical satellite beam covers approximately 100 square miles to 600 square miles versus roughly 3 square miles to 20 square miles for a terrestrial cell site, requiring substantially more users to share the same spectrum resources. This means that for every megahertz of spectrum, terrestrial cell sites can support 30x more users. More importantly, as satellite operators seek to improve capacity, mobility and indoor performance, we believe terrestrial infrastructure will become an increasingly important complement to satellite networks.”
I think there is merit to his analysis that satellites could be complementary to macro towers rather than a substitute. However, it remains a major unknown.
The return outlook of CCI as an investment is heavily impacted by what happens in this debate. We see 3 main branches of scenarios to consider:
Satellites do not materially enter the cell carrier business. Satellites compete and at least partially replace demand for towers. Satellites become carriers and use macro towers to complement their network. CCI is opportunistic in scenarios 1 and 3 but would likely underperform in scenario 2.
Scenario 1 would just be business as usual for tower REITs. This seems to be what the consensus AFFO estimates out to 2030 are penciling in. CCI’s 16.7X AFFO multiple is just too cheap relative to the AFFO/share growth rate, which would make it a strong investment.
Scenario 2 risks major damage in the form of CCI losing one or more of their 3 major tenants. If Starlink competes as a cell carrier and captures substantial market share, there is potential for Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile to go out of business, and CCI could lose massive amounts of rental revenue.
Scenario 3 would be Starlink or a peer competing in a more balanced way, taking some market share but not killing the existing ecosystem. A potential 4th tenant in this scenario would potentially add back the revenues that were previously lost when Sprint got absorbed.
I’m not going to pretend to know how this will all shake out. Instead, I’ll be focusing on data points that could serve as early indicators. Here is what we will be watching to potentially happen:
Starlink or peers signing leases with macro towers (good sign for CCI). The extent to which Starlink attempts to become a major cell carrier. Financial health of Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile deteriorating. Customer adoption of satellite-based cell service. Customer reviews of the quality of satellite-based cell service. How We Are Playing It Tower REITs are potentially quite opportunistic given high-growth relative to valuation, but given the unknown, they are also risky. We currently are underweight relative to the REIT index but hold a small position in American Tower (AMT). AMT and CCI are similar investments, but we give a slight edge to AMT for its ownership of CoreSite, through which it has access to strong data center growth.
As more information rolls in and we get greater clarity on the satellite versus terrestrial debate, we will be watching and trading accordingly.
Second-Quarter Organic Growth: 3.9% or $38 million, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations.Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO): Benefited from
Crown Castle Inc. (CCI) Q2 2026 Earnings Call July 22, 2026 5:00 PM EDT
Company Participants
Hamilton West - VP of Corporate Finance and Treasurer
Christian Hillabrant - CEO, President & Director
Sunit Patel - Executive VP & CFO
Conference Call Participants
Michael Rollins - Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Michael Ng - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division
Ric Prentiss - Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division
Michael Funk - BofA Securities, Research Division
Cameron McVeigh - Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Jonathan Atkin - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division
Richard Choe - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Nicholas Del Deo - MoffettNathanson LLC
Eric Luebchow - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division
Aryeh Klein - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research
Madison Rezaei - Bernstein Institutional Services LLC, Research Division
Matthew Niknam - Truist Securities, Inc., Research Division
Brendan Lynch - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
Batya Levi - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
David Barden - New Street Research LLP
Presentation
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Q2 2026 Crown Castle Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Hamilton West, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Treasurer. Please go ahead.
Hamilton West
VP of Corporate Finance and Treasurer
Thank you, Nick, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we discuss our second quarter 2026 results. With me on the call this afternoon are Chris Hillabrant, Crown Castle's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Sunit Patel, Crown Castle's Chief Financial Officer. To aid the discussion, we have posted supplemental materials in the Investors section of our website at crowncastle.com that will be referenced throughout the call.
This conference call will contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may vary materially from those expected. Information about potential factors which could
Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $1.13 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1 per share. This compares to FFO of $1.02 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an FFO surprise of +13.00%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this operator of wireless communications towers would post FFO of $1.01 per share when it actually produced FFO of $1.02, delivering a surprise of +0.99%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus FFO estimates four times.
Crown Castle, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, posted revenues of $1.01 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.52%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.06 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.
Crown Castle shares have lost about 14.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.7%.
What's Next for Crown Castle?While Crown Castle has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Crown Castle was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus FFO estimate is $1.20 on $1.02 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.43 on $4.13 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, REIT and Equity Trust - Other is currently in the top 24% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
One other stock from the same industry, Easterly Government Properties (DEA - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 3.
This property management company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.79 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +6.8%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
Easterly Government Properties' revenues are expected to be $91.34 million, up 8.4% from the year-ago quarter.
Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) reported $1.01 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June 2026, representing a year-over-year decline of 4.9%. EPS of $1.13 for the same period compares to $0.61 a year ago.
The reported revenue represents a surprise of +1.52% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $992.89 million. With the consensus EPS estimate being $1.00, the EPS surprise was +13%.
While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.
As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.
Here is how Crown Castle performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:
Revenues- Services and other: $41 million versus $53.17 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -21.2% change.Revenues- Site rental: $967 million versus $937.27 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -4.1% change.Net Earnings Per Share (Diluted): $0.22 versus the three-analyst average estimate of $0.23.Services and other- Gross margin: $22 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $25.67 million.Site rental- Gross margin: $718 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $687.46 million.View all Key Company Metrics for Crown Castle here>>>
Shares of Crown Castle have returned -9.6% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Tap Into 2026 AI Infrastructure Gains With This High-Growth ETFCrown Castle NYSE: CCI said it delivered “solid” second-quarter 2026 results, raised its full-year AFFO outlook and completed its transition into a pure-play U.S. tower operator following the sale of its small cell and fiber businesses.
President and CEO Chris Hillabrant said the company closed the sale of those businesses on May 1, calling it “an important milestone” that made Crown Castle “the only publicly traded pure-play U.S. tower operator.” He said the company is now focused on becoming a “best-in-class U.S. tower operator” through cost savings, operational efficiency and improved customer service.
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3 AI ETFs Tapping Into the Heart of the AI Revolution“We now expect to drive additional cost savings this year as we continue to drive operational excellence,” Hillabrant said.
Guidance raised on higher revenue and lower interest expense Chief Financial Officer Sunit Patel said second-quarter organic growth, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, was 3.9%, or $38 million, including a $5 million increase in other billings. Excluding the increase in other billings, organic growth was 3.6%. Organic growth would have been 4.2% if DISH revenues were excluded from prior-year site rental billings.
Top 3 REIT Picks for 2025: High Yields and Rising Earnings AheadThose gains were more than offset in site rental revenue by $5 million of Sprint cancellations, $49 million of DISH terminations and a $25 million decline in non-cash straight-line revenue and amortization of prepaid rent.
Crown Castle raised its full-year 2026 outlook for site rental revenue by $5 million at the midpoint and increased its AFFO outlook by $5 million. Patel said the AFFO increase reflects a $5 million reduction in expected interest expense. The company maintained its adjusted EBITDA outlook, as higher revenue and $15 million of expected cost reductions are expected to be offset by a $20 million decrease in services contribution, primarily in the third quarter.
The company now expects full-year 2026 organic growth of 3.4%, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, up from its prior guidance of 3.3%. If DISH revenues are excluded from prior-year site rental billings, full-year organic growth is expected to be 3.6%, compared with prior guidance of 3.5%.
Patel said Crown Castle continues to expect 2026 to represent the low point for organic growth. As of the end of the second quarter, more than 90% of its full-year 2026 organic growth, excluding Sprint and DISH impacts, was contracted, up from about 80% at the start of the year.
Sale proceeds used for debt repayment and buybacks Crown Castle received $8.4 billion in net proceeds from the sale of its small cell and fiber businesses. Patel said the company used those proceeds to repurchase $1 billion of shares and repay more than $7 billion of debt, consistent with its capital allocation framework.
The company completed the $1 billion share repurchase program during the second quarter at an average price of $88.66 per share, retiring more than 11 million shares and reducing its annual dividend obligation by $47 million.
Since the prior quarter, Crown Castle repaid approximately $7.2 billion in debt, including about $5 billion of floating-rate debt across its commercial paper program, revolving credit facility and term loan. The company also repurchased $500 million of debt in the open market and repaid $750 million of unsecured notes due June 15 and $1 billion of unsecured notes due July 15.
Crown Castle ended the quarter with leverage of 6.3 times net debt to EBITDA, within its target investment-grade range of 6.0 to 6.5 times. The company also reduced the capacity of its revolving credit facility from $7 billion to $4.5 billion following the sale transaction.
DISH bankruptcy and escrow account remain key issues Hillabrant said Crown Castle made progress during the quarter toward recovering payments owed under its original DISH agreement. In May, the Federal Communications Commission approved EchoStar spectrum sale transactions with AT&T and SpaceX, but made the transactions contingent on the creation of a $2.4 billion escrow account for vendors.
Hillabrant said Crown Castle will pursue its $3.5 billion contractual claim in bankruptcy court after DISH Wireless filed for bankruptcy. He said the escrow account is intended to satisfy network-related obligations, including certain infrastructure claims, and is not subject to the normal bankruptcy estate waterfall.
During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Hillabrant said the escrow funding is tied to the closing of the AT&T transaction. He said it is too early to estimate Crown Castle’s potential recovery because the number of claimants and the resolution process remain uncertain.
Asked about DISH equipment on Crown Castle towers, Hillabrant said ownership will be addressed as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. “As far as we’ve seen, they’ve abandoned it and although we’ve requested for them to take it down, have not acted to this point,” he said.
Management points to edge computing, data growth and spectrum Hillabrant said Crown Castle sees multiple long-term demand drivers, including edge compute infrastructure, mobile data growth and new spectrum availability. He said the company has initiated several trials with edge data center providers and is seeing interest in using its tower portfolio for distributed compute deployments.
He said Crown Castle’s sites have existing power and broadband connectivity and can support “move-in-ready” deployments requiring less than 0.2 megawatts. The company is seeing interest from businesses looking to support inference workloads and applications such as cybersecurity, fraud detection and real-time data processing.
Hillabrant also cited Ericsson projections that U.S. mobile data consumption per smartphone will more than double over the next five years, from 25 gigabits to 52 gigabits per month. He said growth will be driven in part by AI-enabled applications and increased uplink traffic from devices transmitting video, sensor and telemetry data to the cloud.
The company also pointed to additional spectrum coming to market. Hillabrant said the FCC has described a pipeline of at least 800 megahertz of additional spectrum expected to be made available for commercial wireless use over the coming years, with plans to auction at least 165 megahertz between 2026 and 2027.
Services activity weakens, but leasing guidance unchanged In response to analyst questions, Hillabrant said lower services activity does not translate directly into lower leasing activity. Crown Castle maintained its leasing guidance range of $60 million to $70 million.
Hillabrant said the services slowdown reflects broader industry conditions, including leadership and strategy changes among wireless customers and slower decision-making. He said the company is not looking to exit the services business and continues to evaluate whether it should expand certain offerings again, including construction-related services, if the economics make sense.
Management also discussed Crown Castle’s ongoing transformation effort, including ground lease buyouts, systems investments, automation and process improvements. Patel said the company expects to expand EBITDA margins by a couple hundred basis points over the next year, driven by structural cost reductions and productivity improvements.
Hillabrant said the company remains focused on operational changes that improve cycle times and customer experience, adding that Crown Castle aims to “win 100% of the jump balls” with customers.
About Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company's assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.
Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.
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Wall Street analysts forecast that Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) will report quarterly earnings of $1.00 per share in its upcoming release, pointing to a year-over-year decline of 2%. It is anticipated that revenues will amount to $992.89 million, exhibiting a decrease of 6.3% compared to the year-ago quarter.
Over the last 30 days, there has been no revision in the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter. This signifies the covering analysts' collective reconsideration of their initial forecasts over the course of this timeframe.
Before a company announces its earnings, it is essential to take into account any changes made to earnings estimates. This is a valuable factor in predicting the potential reactions of investors toward the stock. Empirical research has consistently shown a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and the short-term price performance of a stock.
While investors typically use consensus earnings and revenue estimates as indicators of quarterly business performance, exploring analysts' projections for specific key metrics can offer valuable insights.
With that in mind, let's delve into the average projections of some Crown Castle metrics that are commonly tracked and projected by analysts on Wall Street.
The consensus estimate for 'Revenues- Services and other' stands at $53.17 million. The estimate points to a change of +2.3% from the year-ago quarter.
The combined assessment of analysts suggests that 'Revenues- Site rental' will likely reach $937.27 million. The estimate points to a change of -7% from the year-ago quarter.
The average prediction of analysts places 'Services and other- Gross margin' at $25.67 million. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported $25.00 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
Analysts forecast 'Site rental- Gross margin' to reach $687.46 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $757.00 million.
Based on the collective assessment of analysts, 'Depreciation, amortization and accretion' should arrive at $170.79 million.
The consensus among analysts is that 'Costs of operations- Services and other' will reach $27.50 million.
Analysts predict that the 'Costs of operations- Site rental' will reach $249.82 million.
View all Key Company Metrics for Crown Castle here>>>
Shares of Crown Castle have demonstrated returns of -3.5% over the past month compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.6% change. With a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), CCI is expected to mirror the overall market performance in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
