Realty Income (O +0.57%) is one of the best dividend stocks you can buy. It has a high yield of 5.2% at the current price, which is incredibly reliable and has been raised for 115 consecutive quarters. That's nearly 29 years. It recently announced its 135th increase since it went public in 1994.
The company is known as the Monthly Dividend Company because of another unusual feature for a dividend stock, even a top one -- it pays monthly. And it has paid the dividend for 672 months, or 56 years.
Let's break down how much you actually get with a $10,000 investment.
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At today's price, $10,000 in Realty Income is 161 shares. With the latest increase, the monthly dividend is $0.2710 per share, and 161.75 shares get you a monthly check of $43.83. On a monthly basis, that doesn't sound like very much, but it amounts to $526.01 annually, or more than $1,052 every two years. Plus, since the dividend is raised every quarter, the total amount increases.
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On its own, that's not enough passive income to support anyone in retirement. But it's an excellent, reliable source of passive income as part of a much larger, diversified retirement portfolio.
