With Rivals Retreating, This Elite Dividend Stock Spent $9.5 Billion on Acquisitions in 2023 (and It Could Invest More in 2024)
Realty Income (NYSE: O) went on an investment spree in 2023. The real estate investment trust (REIT) made $9.5 billion in investments last year -- a figure that doesn't include its pending acquisition of fellow REIT Spirit Realty. That topped 2022's total and blew past its guidance, which the REIT boosted several times.
The company capitalized on the challenging market environment to make more investments last year, filling in the gap as rivals retreated. That enabled it to lock in higher real estate cap rates on deals that would boost its cash flow per share, giving it more money to continue increasing its dividend (which at the current share price yields an attractive 5.2%).
Realty Income initially anticipated that it would only make about $5 billion in new investments last year. That would have been a meaningful decline from 2022, when it made $9 billion in investments. The REIT wanted to be more conservative, given the steep rise in interest rates and the expectation that they would continue increasing through 2023.
Source Fool.com
