Buy This Stock Before It Becomes a Dividend Aristocrat

When a company increases its dividend every year, it is sending a signal to investors. At 25 years the company reaches Dividend Aristocrat territory, a major achievement and one that often gets dividend investors' attention. But the best time to buy a company is often before it becomes a Dividend Aristocrat. And W.P. Carey (NYSE: WPC) is one high-yield stock you should think about buying before it hits 25 years of dividend increases. 

Real estate investment trust (REIT) W.P. Carey has 23 years worth of annual dividend increases under its belt. That amounts to a dividend increase every year since the company went public in 1998. That means it's just two years away from becoming a Dividend Aristocrat. W.P. Carey's dividend yield, meanwhile, is a very generous 6.3% today, well in excess of the roughly 1.7% you would get from the S&P 500 Index. It's also much higher than the 3.8% average yield of a REIT, using Vanguard Real Estate ETF as a proxy. 

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Source Fool.com