Realty Income (O) Dividend History

Realty Income dividend history comes down to two counts that get mixed up constantly: the number of monthly dividends the company has paid, a figure in the hundreds, and the number of consecutive annual increases, a much smaller figure. The first is a payment schedule. The second is what S&P reads when it decides whether a stock belongs in the Dividend Aristocrats, and it is the one that settles the Dividend King question below.

The Realty Income dividend history, year by year

Realty Income pays monthly, so one calendar year of its record holds twelve ex dividend dates rather than the four a quarterly payer prints. Twelve payments a year is unusual in the US, where quarterly payment is the standard and the monthly schedule belongs mostly to REITs and a handful of closed end funds. The ex dividend date is the day on which a buyer no longer receives the upcoming payment. The panel sums the cash paid per share in each year, counts the months that carried a payment, and measures each year against the one before it.

WITH paid_rows AS
(
    SELECT
        any(ex_dividend_date) AS ex_date,
        any(cash_amount)      AS cash_amount
    FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
    WHERE ticker = 'O'
      AND ex_dividend_date >= '2011-01-01'
      AND ex_dividend_date <  '2026-01-01'
    GROUP BY id
),
yearly AS
(
    SELECT
        toYear(ex_date)                        AS year,
        countDistinct(toStartOfMonth(ex_date)) AS payment_count,
        toFloat64(sum(cash_amount))            AS paid
    FROM paid_rows
    GROUP BY year
),
with_prior AS
(
    SELECT
        year,
        payment_count,
        paid,
        row_number() OVER (ORDER BY year ASC) AS n,
        lagInFrame(paid) OVER (ORDER BY year ASC ROWS BETWEEN 1 PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS prior_paid
    FROM yearly
)
SELECT
    year,
    payment_count,
    round(paid, 4)                                       AS paid_per_share,
    if(n = 1, 0, round((paid / prior_paid - 1) * 100, 2)) AS yoy_growth_pct
FROM with_prior
ORDER BY year

The window opens in 2011 and closes on the last complete year, 2025, when 12 payments added to $3.487 per share, 33.5% above the prior year. In 2012 the annual total rose 2.3%. The growth column prints 0 in the first row: no earlier year sits inside the query window to measure it against. Every other row measures one year's recorded total against the year before it, which makes the column a reading of the whole calendar year rather than of the monthly rate: an annual total moves with the amount per payment and with the number of payments the record holds for that year, the count in the second column. For the current rate and yield, see the Realty Income dividend and yield page.

Consecutive monthly dividends versus consecutive increases

Two counters run at once, and they measure different things.

• The payment counter adds one every month. A company paying monthly since 1969 carries a count in the hundreds, and it grows by twelve a year whether or not the amount ever changes.
• The increase counter adds one every time the payout goes up. Realty Income keeps a quarterly version, counting straight quarters with a higher declared rate. S&P keeps an annual version, counting calendar years in which total dividends beat the year before.

Only the annual counter carries index consequences, and the three numbers will never agree with one another. Screens for dividend growth champions rank on the increase streak, never on how many payments have been made. Among monthly dividend stocks the payment counter is the number that gets quoted, and it is the least informative of the three.

Is Realty Income a Dividend King?

No, and the answer is arithmetic rather than judgement. A Dividend King has raised its dividend for at least 50 consecutive years. No index sits behind that label; it is a screen anyone can run. A Dividend Aristocrat is tighter in one direction and looser in another: the company must be an S&P 500 constituent and clear the index size and liquidity minimums, and its run of higher annual dividends must reach 25 years.

Realty Income sits in the S&P 500 and dates its increase streak to its 1994 New York Stock Exchange listing. That clears the 25 year test with room to spare. A streak beginning in 1994 would need to run into the 2040s to reach 50, so the precise answer is Aristocrat yes, King no. The distance between the two labels is roughly two decades of calendar.

How big is a Realty Income dividend raise?

Small, and repeated. A quarterly payer that raises once a year moves in one visible step. A monthly payer can adjust the rate several times inside the same year, and each step is correspondingly tiny. The panel counts every month in which the rate came in above the month before, then measures the smallest and largest of those steps in cents per share.

WITH monthly AS
(
    SELECT
        toStartOfMonth(ex_dividend_date) AS month_start,
        toFloat64(max(cash_amount))      AS monthly_rate
    FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
    WHERE ticker = 'O'
      AND ex_dividend_date >= '2015-01-01'
      AND ex_dividend_date <  '2026-09-01'
    GROUP BY month_start
),
stepped AS
(
    SELECT
        month_start,
        row_number() OVER (ORDER BY month_start ASC) AS n,
        monthly_rate - lagInFrame(monthly_rate) OVER (ORDER BY month_start ASC ROWS BETWEEN 1 PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS step
    FROM monthly
)
SELECT
    toYear(month_start)       AS year,
    count()                   AS raise_count,
    round(min(step) * 100, 3) AS smallest_raise_cents,
    round(max(step) * 100, 3) AS largest_raise_cents
FROM stepped
WHERE n > 1
  AND step > 0
  AND month_start >= '2016-01-01'
GROUP BY year
ORDER BY year

In 2016 the monthly rate moved up 6 times, the smallest of those steps measuring 0.05 cents per share and the largest 0.75 cents. The final row, 2026, covers a year still in progress and carries 2 increases so far.

A step that small is invisible on a single payment. It compounds through the schedule instead: a raise applied in March lifts ten of that year's twelve payments, and the year after it lifts all twelve. It also keeps both increase counters alive, since a fraction of a cent is still a higher rate than the month before. The declaration calendar behind these steps is its own subject, covered in when companies announce dividend raises.

The 2021 VEREIT merger and the Orion spin off

Two corporate actions in November 2021 distort a per share history that is rebuilt carelessly. Realty Income merged with VEREIT, an all stock deal that enlarged the share count, and in the same month it spun off part of the office portfolio as Orion Office REIT, distributing Orion shares to Realty Income holders. Neither event is a split, and neither is a dividend cut. The panel pins the monthly amount across 2021 and 2022, next to the split adjusted column the data provider carries.

SELECT
    toStartOfMonth(ex_dividend_date)                     AS month,
    formatDateTime(month, '%b %Y')                       AS month_label,
    round(toFloat64(max(cash_amount)), 4)                AS monthly_dividend,
    round(toFloat64(max(split_adjusted_cash_amount)), 4) AS adjusted_dividend
FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
WHERE ticker = 'O'
  AND ex_dividend_date >= '2021-01-01'
  AND ex_dividend_date <  '2023-01-01'
GROUP BY month
ORDER BY month

The amount paid in Jan 2021 was $0.2345 per share, and in Dec 2022 it was $0.2485. The adjusted column for that first month prints $0.2345. Both columns come off the same rows: the adjusted one restates old dividends for splits that arrive afterwards, so any divergence between the two lines marks a restatement of history rather than a change in what holders banked.

The merger lands on totals rather than on the rate. A larger share count sends more cash out the door at the same rate per share, so a dollar figure for total dividends paid jumps at a merger while the per share series walks on undisturbed. The spin off is the mirror image: holders received stock in a separate company, a distribution of shares that never enters the dividend per share series. A history showing a gap or a cut in late 2021 has picked up one of those two events by mistake.

Is the Realty Income dividend covered by cash flow?

Run the standard payout test on a REIT and it fails loudly every year. Earnings per share for a property owner sits well below the cash the business collects, since depreciation on buildings is a large non cash charge against net income. The dividend is paid out of cash rather than out of accounting profit, and dividends per share at a landlord can run above earnings per share for years at a stretch while the rent roll covers the payment.

On an industrial company a payout ratio above 1.0 would be a warning. On a REIT it is the ordinary reading, and it is why the sector reports funds from operations (FFO), which adds depreciation back to net income, and adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), which then removes the recurring capital spending a landlord cannot skip. This guide runs no earnings panel: the ratio it would print is not the test a REIT is judged on. The mechanics of the FFO and AFFO calculation, and the payout ratio worth running in place of the EPS one, are in the REIT payout ratio guide covering FFO versus EPS.

FAQ

Is Realty Income a Dividend King?

No. A Dividend King has raised its dividend for at least 50 consecutive years. Realty Income dates its run of higher annual dividends to its 1994 stock exchange listing, which clears the 25 year Dividend Aristocrat test and falls short of the 50 year one.

How often does Realty Income raise its dividend?

Several times in a typical year, in steps measured in fractions of a cent per share. The panel above counts the months in which the monthly rate came in higher, with the smallest and largest step in each calendar year.

How many dividends has Realty Income paid?

One per month. The company dates the monthly record to its 1969 founding, which puts that counter in the hundreds and adds twelve to it every year. It is a separate number from the count of consecutive annual increases.

Did the VEREIT merger or the Orion spin off cut the dividend?

No. The panel above pins the monthly amount per share across 2021 and 2022. The merger changed the share count, and the spin off handed holders stock in a separate company. Neither one is a change to the dividend per share.

Why do REIT payout ratios look so high against earnings?

Depreciation on real estate is a large non cash charge, so a REIT's earnings per share sits well below the cash it collects in rent. A dividend measured against that earnings figure can read above 100% at a landlord whose rent covers the payment several times over. The sector reports FFO and AFFO for that reading, and the payout test uses those in place of EPS.

Every panel here carries the SQL that produced it, so each count is checkable rather than quoted. To pull the same dividend history for another monthly payer, ask for it in plain English on the Strasmore terminal.