3 US REITs increase dividends in January

This Data Dispatch is updated monthly. The analysis includes publicly traded real estate investment trusts covered by S&P Global Market Intelligence that are based in the US or Canada and trade on the NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American, Toronto Stock Exchange or TSX Venture Exchange.

Three US-based publicly traded real estate investment trusts raised their regular dividends in January, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Diversified REIT Medalist Diversified REIT Inc. announced the highest dividend increase in January, raising its quarterly cash payout by 8.3% to 6.5 cents per share. Compared with the pre-pandemic level in 2019, the new dividend amount represents a 96.8% decrease.

Postal Realty Trust Inc., a REIT that owns properties leased to the US Postal Service, declared a quarterly dividend of 24.25 cents per share, a 1% rise from the fourth-quarter 2023 dividend and a 73.2% increase from the year-end 2019 payout. The dividend will be payable to stockholders Feb. 28.

In the same month, industrial REIT STAG Industrial Inc. raised its monthly common stock dividend by 0.7% to 12.4167 cents per share, payable to shareholders Feb. 18. The new dividend corresponds to an annualized total of $1.49 per share.

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REIT property sectors

A Market Intelligence analysis of 128 publicly traded US REITs showed 53.9% are paying higher dividends than they did at the end of 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, 6.3% maintain the same dividend levels, and 39.8% pay less than their pre-pandemic dividends.

All REITs in the single-tenant, specialty, datacenter, self-storage, casino, land, manufactured homes and single-family sectors are paying higher dividends than at the end of 2019.

The hotel, outlet center and regional mall sectors had the lowest dividend increases. In the hotel sector, only 9.1% of REITs increased their dividends, while 81.8% suspended or lowered them. Within the regional mall sector, one REIT maintained its pre-pandemic dividend level, while the other suspended or lowered its payout. The lone REIT in the outlet center sector suspended or lowered its dividend from the year-end 2019 level.

The analysis excluded REITs that had gone public since the end of 2019, suspended their dividends prior to year-end 2019, consistently give year-end bumper dividends, or are merger targets.