Here's Why UDR Can Keep Raising Its Dividend
Dividend increases are one of those things that income investors love to see, year in and year out. Apartment landlord UDR (NYSE: UDR) is positioning itself to become a reliable dividend grower for years to come, building on its already impressive streak of 13 consecutive annual hikes. Here's how it plans to keep rewarding investors for sticking around.
At one point in UDR's life, it was called United Dominion Realty and was focused on buying second-tier apartments that it would fix up. But about 13 years ago or so, it changed its stripes, selling off its lower-quality properties to focus on owning better properties in better markets. There was a CEO change in the mix during this shift in business focus. It worked out fairly well for investors: The stock has easily outperformed the average real estate investment trust (REIT) (using Vanguard Real Estate Index ETF as a proxy) since the start of 2010, shortly after the dividend cut that accompanied the change in its business model.
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Source Fool.com
