Realty Income's (O 2.53%) mission is to pay a growing monthly dividend. The real estate investment trust (REIT) has certainly delivered on that objective over the years. It has raised its payment 124 times since its public market listing in 1994.
The REIT's dividend will probably continue rising this year. Here's a look at how much it will likely pay in 2024.
A look at Realty Income's dividend
Realty Income paid $2.1 billion in dividends in 2023, a 16.5% increase from 2022's total of $1.8 billion. The REIT has now paid nearly $13 billion to investors since its public market listing in 1994.
On a per-share basis, the dividend only rose 2.8%, to an annualized rate of $3.078. That's because the company issued $5.4 billion of new shares (increasing its outstanding shares by 13.2%) to help fund over $8 billion in real estate investments.
Realty Income's outstanding shares will continue surging in 2024. The main driver will be its $9.3 billion all-stock acquisition of Spirit Realty, which closed in early January. It exchanged 0.762 of its shares for each share of Spirit Realty.
That deal will result in a meaningful increase in its outstanding shares. It will need to pay dividends across those new shares.
As a result of those new shares, Realty Income made $636.5 million of cash distributions to investors in the first quarter ($2.5 billion annualized). The REIT will likely continue issuing new shares to fund acquisitions this year, though likely at a lower rate (it only expects to make $2 billion of investments excluding Spirit this year). Because of that and its goal of increasing the per-share rate, the REIT will likely pay more than $2.5 billion in dividends this year.
A dividend-paying machine
Realty Income is a leading dividend stock with an exceptional track record of growing dividends. It will undoubtedly pay a higher dividend this year (on an absolute and per-share basis). Because of that, it's a great option for investors seeking a steadily rising monthly income stream.
