When the dividend-payout ratio--the percentage of earnings paid out as dividends--climbed above 50% in the late 1950s, the subsequent ten-year earnings growth was 2% to 4% a year.
For the current year it forecast a YoY rebound of 45.7% and sweetened the expectation by raising its dividend payout ratio range from 20-40% to 30-50%.
With those higher dividend yields, single-tenant retail REITs also have a higher median 2013 estimated adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) payout ratio, at 83.5 percent, compared to 70.3 percent for all equity REITs.