Zacks Research Forecasts Weaker Earnings for Crown Castle

Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research dropped their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for shares of Crown Castle in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, July 1st. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the real estate investment trust will post earnings of $0.98 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.00. The consensus estimate for Crown Castle’s current full-year earnings is $6.67 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Crown Castle’s FY2026 earnings at $4.30 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $1.19 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $1.28 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $5.15 EPS.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 78.12% and a negative return on equity of 164.40%. Crown Castle’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CCI. UBS Group upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crown Castle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Crown Castle Price Performance

CCI stock opened at $102.92 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.89. The stock has a market cap of $44.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -39.50%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 6,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.0% during the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,532 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 1.8% during the first quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 36.6% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Crown Castle by 0.3% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,357 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Crown Castle

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.