Almost any list of the most durable dividend growth stocks will include Realty Income (O +0.93%). Since its founding in 1969, the company has paid 667 consecutive monthly dividends. It went public in 1994 and has notched 31 years of consecutive annual dividend growth.
The stock's juicy 5% dividend yield makes it a very attractive high-yield investment option for income seekers.
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How many shares of Realty Income are needed for $10,000 annual income?
Realty Income shares closed at $62.46 on Feb. 4. Using the yield as I write this of 5.2%, investors earn $3.25 in annual income for every share owned.
Therefore, if an investor were looking to earn $10,000 in dividends annually from their investment in the stock, they would need to own 3,077 shares. If we finish off the math, that comes out to roughly $192,185 invested in order to earn those $10,000 in annual dividends. Granted that's a lot, especially considering investors should own 25 or more companies in a diversified portfolio. But even if you can't invest that much, the stock is still worth a look.
NYSE: O
Key Data Points
A big reason why Realty Income is able to pay out the 5% yield is that it's a real estate investment trust (REIT). By law, it must distribute most of its taxable income as dividends. That supports the idea that Realty Income can sustain its current yield.
But it likely comes at the expense of dividend growth. REITs don't typically have huge growth rates, as is the case with this stock, but its sustainability, monthly payout schedule, and high yield make it a very attractive income option.
