High-yielding REITs will fuel your returns

Article Excerpt

These two REITs have recently completed multi-year restructuring plans that shifted their focus to much more promising properties. Moreover, both have held your distributions steady during their restructuring, and we feel they’re poised to add to your income following the current COVID-19 crisis. H&R REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $8.46 is a buy. Through your units in this REIT (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Units outstanding: 286.7 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; Dividend yield: 16.3%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.hr-reit.com) you tap income from 455 properties: 33 office buildings, 311 retail developments, 87 industrial buildings and 24 residential properties. H&R also has six projects (five residential and one mixed-use) in development. Its overall occupancy rate is a high 94.5%. The REIT last raised your monthly distribution by 2.2% with the December 2016 payment, to $0.115 a unit from $0.1125. The current $1.38 annual rate offers you a high 16.3% yield; altogether, those payments to investors equal a sustainable 78% of the trust’s…