National Retail Properties (NNN) will raise its quarterly dividend by 3.0 percent to $0.515 per share in 2019. Last year NNN hiked its dividend by 2.5 cents to 50 cents quarterly per share. The retail REIT has now increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years.

The next dividend is payable August 15, 2019 to common shareholders of record on July 31, 2019. A new annual rate of $2.06 per share yields 3.9% at a stock price of $53.21.

National Retail Properties is one of only three publicly traded REITs and 86 publicly traded companies in America to have increased annual dividends for 30 or more consecutive years.

Jay Whitehurst, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "National Retail Properties has continued its consistent performance, driven by a healthy portfolio, a strong pipeline of relationship-driven acquisitions, and continued access to attractively priced capital.  This three percent increase in our dividend will make 2019 the 30th consecutive year of increased annual dividends - a record only three publicly traded REITs can claim."

National Retail Properties (NNN) is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (“REIT”) formed in 1984. NNN acquires, owns, invests in and develops properties that are leased primarily to retail tenants under long-term net leases and are primarily held for investment. NNN’s strategy is to invest primarily in retail real estate that is typically well located within each local market for its tenants’ retail lines of trade. As of March 31, 2019, the company owned 2,984 properties in 48 states with a gross leasable area of approximately 30.7 million square feet and with a weighted average remaining lease term of 11.4 years.