National Retail Properties, Inc.
(
NNN
), a publicly owned equity real estate investment trust (REIT), has
recently increased its quarterly dividend by 2.6% from 38.5 cents
to 39.5 cents per share. The current dividend payout equates to
$1.58 per share on an annualized basis, and affirms a yield of
5.4%. The dividend is payable on August 15, 2012 to shareholders of
record as on July 31, 2012.
The company has been paying uninterrupted annual dividends for the
last 23 years. To add another feather in its cap, National Retail
has the unique distinction of being one of only four publicly
traded REITs and 104 publicly traded companies in the U.S. to have
increased annual dividends for 23 or more consecutive years.
A steady dividend payout facilitates the long-term strategy of
National Retail to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to its
stockholders. Investors looking for high dividend yields are
increasingly favoring REITs like National Retail. Solid dividend
payouts are arguably the biggest enticement for REIT investors as
the U.S. law requires REITs to distribute 90% of their annual
taxable income in the form of dividends to shareholders.
Earlier, National Retail had increased its 2012 FFO (funds from
operations) guidance from $1.62 - $1.67 to $1.67 - $1.72 per share
based on the solid performance from its operating property
portfolio, strong balance sheet, and accretive effect from property
acquisitions. Funds from operations, a widely used metric to gauge
the performance of REITs, are obtained after adding depreciation
and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income.
National Retail primarily invests in high-quality properties
subject to long-term net leases. As of March 31, 2012, the company
owned 1,486 Investment properties in 47 states with a gross
leasable area of approximately 17.0 million square feet.
We maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on National
Retail, which currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank that translates
into a short-term Hold rating. We also have a Neutral
recommendation and a Zacks #3 Rank for
DDR Corp.
(
DDR
), one of the competitors of National Retail.
DDR CORP (DDR): Free Stock Analysis Report
NATL RETAIL PPT (NNN): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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