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Realty Income (NYSE: O) carries a 5.1% dividend yield and 115 consecutive quarters of payout increases, a record that puts most income vehicles in the shade. The case for owning it is straightforward.
The complication is that more than 78% of the company's rent flows from retail tenants, a sector that has spent the better part of a decade fending off questions about its own survival.
What the payout record rests on Realty Income is structured as a real estate investment trust, which requires it to distribute at least 90% of pretax income to shareholders.
The company has operated since 1969, paying dividends monthly and typically nudging the rate higher each quarter.
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