Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) will raise its quarterly dividend by 3.6 percent to $1.16 per share in 2021. This comes after a dividend increase of 3.7 percent to $1.12 per share in 2020. This year will mark the 17th consecutive year of increased dividends paid by the data center REIT.

The next dividend will be paid on March 31, 2021 to shareholders of record on March 15, 2021. A new annualized rate of $4.64 per share yields 3.2% at a stock price of $146.

"Our board of directors has approved a 4% increase in our quarterly common stock cash dividend to $1.16 per share, reflecting confidence in the underlying strength of our business as well as the strength of the recurring cash flows that support a steadily growing and well covered dividend, while retaining capital to fund future growth opportunities," commented Andrew P. Power, Chief Financial Officer.  "This marks the 16th consecutive year we have grown our dividend, and we are pleased to be among a select group of REITs to have raised the dividend each and every year since our initial public offering in 2004." 

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is a data center real estate investment trust (REIT). The company owns and operates data centers located throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia. Digital Realty's clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from cloud and information technology services, communications and social networking to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and consumer products. Digital Realty became a public company in 2004 and has paid a dividend every year since.