Key Takeaways
- Crown Castle yielded 5.4% and VICI Properties 8.0% at the Oct. 9, 2026 close, and both are judged on their AFFO payout ratios.
- Crown Castle’s dividend fell from $6.26 a share in fiscal 2024 to $4.75 in fiscal 2025, and it still paid out 109% of AFFO in fiscal 2025, with 93% expected for 2026.
- VICI paid out 74% of its AFFO in fiscal 2025, consensus expects 74% again in 2026, and it says it has raised its dividend every year since going public in 2018.
- For 2026, Crown Castle guides to AFFO of $4.53 to $4.65 a share and VICI to $2.45 to $2.47.
Anyone hunting for a high yield will end up looking at stocks like Crown Castle (CCI) and VICI Properties (VICI). At the Oct. 9 close, they yielded 5.4% and 8.0%.
Crown Castle’s dividend fell from $6.26 a share in fiscal 2024 to $4.75 in fiscal 2025. VICI, meanwhile, says it has raised its payout “every single year since we went public in 2018.”
So which is the better high-yield dividend stock?
| Metric | Crown Castle (CCI) | VICI Properties (VICI) |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 5.4% | 8.0% |
| Dividend growth, fiscal 2020–2025 | -0.7% a year | 7.1% a year |
| AFFO payout ratio, fiscal 2025 | 109% | 74% |
| AFFO payout ratio, fiscal 2026 consensus | 93% | 74% |
| Net debt / EBITDA (LTM) | 6.51x | 4.81x |
| Interest coverage (LTM) | 2.13x | 4.33x |
| Price / AFFO (NTM) | 16.2x | 9.2x |
Crown Castle is still earning back its cushion
Crown Castle has reshaped itself over the last year. CFO Sunit Patel says that after its sale closed, it bought back $1 billion of stock and repaid more than $7 billion of debt.
From fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2023, Crown Castle paid out between 73% and 83% of its AFFO. Then AFFO fell from $6.98 a share in fiscal 2024 to $4.36 in fiscal 2025. That drop was faster than the dividend’s, so the payout ratio jumped from 90% to 109%.
AFFO is recovering: $1.13 a share in Q2 2026, up 10% from $1.02 a year earlier.
Consensus puts the 2026 payout ratio at 93%. That reflects a full year at the lower rate ($4.25 a share, against $4.75 in fiscal 2025) and AFFO of $4.58 a share, inside management’s guidance. The new dividend is covered, but thinly, and Crown Castle plans to hold it at $4.25 until it pays out 75% to 80% of AFFO.
Site rental revenues fell 4% to $967 million in Q2 2026, which the company puts down to DISH terminations and Sprint cancellations. Crown Castle’s stock jumped 15.6% on Oct. 9, to $79.64, after SpaceX agreed on Oct. 8 to buy nationwide spectrum for its Starlink phone service, which may need towers. SpaceX hasn’t signed a lease.
The risk is the balance sheet. Net debt sits at 6.51x EBITDA, just above management’s 6x to 6.5x target, and interest coverage is a thin 2.13x.
VICI’s dividend has room to spare
Crown Castle is rebuilding its cushion, while VICI has kept one the whole way. From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2025, VICI paid out between 74% and 79% of its AFFO every year. Over that stretch, AFFO rose from $1.48 a share to $2.38 and the dividend from $1.17 to $1.76.
Management says it’s “focused on maintaining our ability to continue to grow our dividend,” and the numbers back that up. Consensus has VICI paying out a comfortable 74% again in 2026, on AFFO of $2.46 a share, inside its guidance of $2.45 to $2.47.
Q2 2026 revenue rose 5.7% to $1.1 billion, and AFFO per share rose 4.6% to $0.62.
The dividend’s growth has slowed, though. It rose 3.5% in fiscal 2025, against 7.1% a year from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2025, and its Sept. 3 raise, to $0.46 a quarter, was 2.2%.
The risk is VICI’s biggest tenant. Caesars, one of VICI’s two biggest tenants, is being bought by Fertitta Entertainment for $31 a share in cash, a deal Caesars’ shareholders approved on Sept. 22 and regulators still must. Caesars’ regional lease is still unsettled. “That is a conversation that will take place at some point,” CEO Ed Pitoniak said on the July 30 call, and “we obviously collect every dollar of rent in the meantime.”
So which dividend wins?
VICI Properties is the better high-yield dividend stock. It pays the bigger check, covers it with room to spare, carries less debt and is still raising its dividend.
Put $10,000 in each today, and VICI pays $800 a year against Crown Castle’s $540. At each dividend’s fiscal 2025 pace, VICI pays about $1,093 in year 10 (less at its September pace) against about $540 from Crown Castle.
And VICI’s stock is near its cheapest in five years. It traded at 9.2x forward AFFO on Oct. 9, against a five-year average of 13.8x and a low of 9.1x on Oct. 5.
That isn’t to say Crown Castle’s dividend is in trouble. CEO Chris Hillabrant calls the dividend “sacrosanct,” AFFO per share is growing again, and the new rate is covered on 2026 consensus.
It’s just that VICI already has what Crown Castle is working toward: a cushion under the dividend, and a dividend that’s still rising.
Of course, if Crown Castle delivers the $2.1 billion of AFFO it says it’s on track for across the second half of 2026 and first half of 2027, its cushion widens and this gap narrows.
So what is VICI Properties stock actually worth?
TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR’s valuation model and see what VICI Properties could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It’s free to use.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
