Realty Income (NYSE: O) does a magnificent job paying dividends. The real estate investment trust (REIT) has paid 647 consecutive monthly dividends throughout its 55-year operating history. It recently increased its monthly payment by 2.1%. That marked the 107th straight quarter it increased the dividend, and the 125th time since its public market listing in 1994.

The REIT's dividend will undoubtedly continue rising in the future. Here's why the already high-yielding company, with its 5.5%-plus forward dividend yield, can continue sending more cash to its investors.

Realty Income's latest dividend increase of 2.1% is already this year's third payment bump. It's also the year's biggest increase; the other two were 0.2% raises. The recent payout boost is also sizable compared with its dividend growth over the past year, which is 2.4% based on its annualized rate at the end of the first quarter.

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Source Fool.com