The Dynamic Dividend

Health Care REIT’s Dividend Growth Hits 12-Year High

Health Care REIT, Inc. (HCN) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.715 per share within today’s fourth quarter results, which is a 3.62% improvement over the $0.69 paid each of the last three quarters by the investor in senior housing and health care real estate.

Shares of HCN rose to $49.88 (+0.77%) in early trading, where they now feature a 5.73% dividend yield.

The dividend hike sets up HCN investors to receive 3.47% more per share during this calendar year than they did in 2010, the biggest year-over-year increase from Health Care REIT since it provided 3.65% dividend growth in 1999.