In this article, we will take a look at the 13 Best REIT Dividend Stocks to Invest in.
On February 23, CNBC reported that real estate investment trusts may start drawing attention as fears around artificial intelligence continue to shake parts of the market. The S&P 500 Real Estate sector has risen nearly 7% since the start of 2026. Over the same period, the broader S&P 500 has slipped about 1%. Concerns about AI disrupting different industries have weighed on stocks in recent weeks. REITs were not spared earlier this month.
Commercial real estate brokers also felt the pressure. Still, the office sector represents only a small portion of the overall REIT market. BMO analyst John Kim pointed this out in his comments to CNBC.”Interest rates are most likely coming down,” Kim told CNBC. BMO believes the sector could be entering a recovery phase. The firm expects 2026 to bring a rebound and refers to the period as a “REIT Redemption Tour.”
Beyond price gains, REITs also provide income through dividends. In January, timberland, diversified, specialty, and data center REITs delivered the strongest performance, according to industry group Nareit. Office and residential REITs lagged behind. Ed Pierzak, senior vice president of research at Nareit, said operating performance across the sector remains stable. Balance sheets also continue to hold up. “We take a look at REIT operations; they’ve been solid. We take a look at the balance sheets; they’ve been solid,” Pierzak said. He further stated:
“We’ve started to see this uptick in REIT transaction activity on the property side and we think that’s a huge plus. It’s really a potential signal that the broader [real estate] market may be getting into recovery as well.”
Even with recent improvement, Kim believes the sector still has room to run. That gap could create opportunities for investors looking for value. He expects total returns for REITs to reach about 17% in 2026.
Given this, we will take a look at some of the best dividend stocks in the REIT sector.
Photo by Blake Wheeler on Unsplash
Our Methodology:
For this list, we screened for REIT companies that pay dividends, and limited our final selection to companies that have recently reported noteworthy developments likely to impact investor sentiment.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
13. Lineage, Inc. (NASDAQ:LINE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21
On March 2, RBC Capital analyst Michael Carroll raised the firm’s price recommendation on Lineage, Inc. (NASDAQ:LINE) to $44 from $42. The firm reiterated an Outperform rating following the company’s Q4 FFO beat. In a research note, the analyst said the company continues to operate in a soft environment but appears increasingly confident that conditions are beginning to stabilize.
During the Q4 2025 earnings call, CEO W. Lehmkuhl said the company’s fourth-quarter results generally met or slightly exceeded expectations across its key performance metrics. He pointed to improvements in operating efficiency and several new business wins secured during 2025 as encouraging developments. He said total revenue was flat compared with the prior year, while adjusted EBITDA slipped 2% to $327 million. AFFO and AFFO per share were unchanged from the previous year but still came in ahead of expectations. Lehmkuhl attributed that performance to better control over maintenance capital spending and more proactive cash tax planning.
He also noted that same-store physical occupancy rose 400 basis points sequentially to 79.3%, reflecting a return to more typical seasonal patterns. Even with that improvement, the company entered 2026 with occupancy slightly below the level seen a year earlier. Lehmkuhl said the company has largely moved past the volume guarantee adjustments tied to customers’ multiyear inventory destocking that followed the pandemic.
Lineage, Inc. (NASDAQ:LINE) is a global temperature-controlled warehouse real estate investment trust (REIT) with facilities across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. The company operates through two segments: Global Warehousing and Global Integrated Solutions.
12. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 26
On March 5, Ladenburg raised the firm’s price recommendation on Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) to $44 from $42. It reiterated a Buy rating on the shares. The firm linked the higher target to a re-rating of the shopping center sector in 2026.
During the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call, Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Edison said the company delivered solid results in 2025. He noted that NAREIT FFO per share increased 7.2%, while core FFO per share rose 7%. Same-center NOI also grew 3.8%. Edison said the company expects mid-single-digit growth in both NAREIT FFO and core FFO per share in 2026.
He also spoke about the company’s acquisition plans. Edison said the firm intends to complete between $400 million and $500 million in gross acquisitions in 2026, after acquiring roughly $400 million in properties during 2025. He added that the company’s Locally Smart operating platform continues to support rent growth and NOI performance. Edison said management remains confident in executing its strategy and delivering steady growth in 2026 and in the years ahead. He also suggested that an investment in PECO offers meaningful upside potential supported by high-quality cash flows, strong fundamentals, and long-term growth prospects.
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) is a real estate investment trust (REIT). Substantially all of the company’s business is conducted through Phillips Edison Grocery Center Operating Partnership I, L.P.
