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There’s something rewarding about dividends. Receiving that dividend payment in the mail or in your brokerage account reinforces the intention behind investing by manifesting the outcome. It says, “Your capital has been hard at work, here’s your reward.”
Today, I want to share my top 10 dividend payers for August, and take a closer look at a new top pick: Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (IIPR).
For a recap on dividend investing basics read my previous article on dividend payers.
Screenshot of Dividend Recap (Seeking Alpha, Garrett Duyck)
Top 10 Dividend Payers
This exercise is to identify potentially good dividend payer equities that are worthy of further examination. This exercise does not analyze overall investment suitability and is not an assessment of risk.
These are my four dividend payer goals:
- Maximize total return
- Deliver a meaningful yield
- Experience strong dividend growth
- Provide a margin of safety against dividend cuts
The exercise begins with a stock screen that eliminates attributes which compromise my goals. I use the Seeking Alpha Stock Screener to sort equities based on the following qualifications. I implement substitutions to the data for REITs and MLPs.
| Metric | Screen |
| Dividend Yield FWD | >2% |
| Payout Ratio | <150% |
| 5Y Dividend Growth | >2% |
| Years of Dividend Growth | >5 |
| EPS FWD | >-3.0% |
| Cash From Operations | >-200M |
| Return on Assets | >3% |
| Debt to Equity | <500% |
| Debt to FCF | >-10% |
Finally, the candidates are ranked using an equation that assigns a weighted score according to the order of prioritization in the table below. The maximum ranking score is 10. Scores are relative to each other.
| Metric | Reinvestment Strategy Priority | Retirement Strategy Priority |
| Dividend Yield FWD | Medium | High |
| Payout Ratio | High | Low |
| 5Y Dividend Growth | Low | Medium |
| Years of Growth | Medium | Medium |
| Revenue Growth FWD | Medium | Medium |
| EPS Growth FWD | High | Medium |
| Return on Assets | Medium |
Medium |
Top 10 Dividend Payers For Dividend Reinvestment
| Ticker | Name | Dividend Yield FWD | Score | |
| 1 | CTRA | Coterra Energy Inc. | 2.01% | 5.0 |
| 2 | IIPR | Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. | 7.41% | 4.7 |
| 3 | MED | Medifast, Inc. | 3.85% | 4.6 |
| 4 | MMM | 3M Company | 4.25% | 4.5 |
| 5 | PG | The Procter & Gamble Company | 2.47% | 4.3 |
| 6 | EOG | EOG Resources, Inc. | 2.79% | 4.3 |
| 7 | TXN | Texas Instruments Incorporated | 2.62% | 3.9 |
| 8 | WSO | Watsco, Inc. | 3.34% | 3.9 |
| 9 | LEG | Leggett & Platt, Incorporated | 4.39% | 3.9 |
| 10 | KO | The Coca-Cola Company | 2.75% | 3.9 |
Top 10 Dividend Payers For Retirees
| Ticker | Name | Dividend Yield FWD | Score | |
| 1 | IIPR | Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. | 7.41% | 5.5 |
| 2 | MED | Medifast, Inc. | 3.85% | 4.4 |
| 3 | CTRA | Coterra Energy Inc. | 2.01% | 4.3 |
| 4 | MMP | Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. | 8.10% | 4.1 |
| 5 | EPD | Enterprise Products Partners L.P. | 7.19% | 4.0 |
| 6 | EOG | EOG Resources, Inc. | 2.79% | 3.9 |
| 7 | MMM | 3M Company | 4.25% | 3.8 |
| 8 | LYB | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | 5.37% | 3.5 |
| 9 | MPW | Medical Properties Trust, Inc. | 6.86% | 3.5 |
| 10 | TXN | Texas Instruments Incorporated | 2.62% | 3.4 |
This month’s lists change notably by the addition of Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. The company receives solid scores on both lists and offers a very high yield at 7.41% FWD.
IIPR has not performed well in the last year with the shares losing over 50% since November 2021. This is one of the main reasons that the stock has jumped into the top ten as the dividend yield has risen to the highest level on record.
The dividend receives superb dividend grades by Seeking Alpha including an “A” for safety. Each metric under dividend safety receives good marks with the exception of the two that might just matter most: FFO and AFFO payout ratio. A forward FFO payout ratio of 93% and forward AFFO payout ratio of 86% do not leave much room for error.
Seeking Alpha Seeking Alpha
The good news is that the FFO payout ratio is actually the lowest in the stock’s history, go figure. So what really matters is if the company can maintain its cash flow growth. At a price to FFO ratio of 13.02x IIPR is trading at the lowest valuations on record and at cheap valuations if the company meets estimates. In that case, at a 15x P/FFO the stock would return 27% CAGR total returns by December 2024.
FAST Graphs
In addition to attractive P/FFO and price to free cash flow multiples the company is sporting a 0.762 PEG ratio. Clearly the market does not believe the analysts.
Below is the long term chart of IIPR. Price has reached support at the lower bound of the logarithmic channel at a time when weekly 14 RSI is deeply oversold at 25 and share price is over 40% below the 200 day moving average. These technical indicators suggest a great long term entry point.
Charts by TradingView (adapted by Author)
The issue is that IIPR is having issues with tenants becoming delinquent on rent payments. Their tenant, King’s Garden, Inc. has defaulted on rent payments and other obligations. This is partly due to tight margins in the cannabis industry.
In addition, IIPR has been successful because it has earned a premium for its niche of providing facilities to cannabis growers that have limited access to capital due to regulations. That niche could be lost in an instance if the right law is passed.
The company reported Q2 earnings on August 3rd. FFO per share missed by $0.01 which is a miss of 0.5%, not bad. Of larger importance is the status on troubled tenants. Here is what Executive Chairman Alan Gold had to say during the earnings teleconference:
Later in July, we filed a suit with the state court asking for immediate access to our properties among other demands. Today, Kings Garden remains in default and on August 2nd, we amended our suit making further claims regarding construction at the properties, among other things. Okay that is what happened. And unfortunately, we will not be able to answer any questions regarding the legal proceedings. I ask for your understanding. And please note, we are doing all that we can to pursue our interest.
*wincing*
As a bit of positive news, during the Q&A section of the call Alan suggested that there was interest from potential tenants to lease the troubled properties. He also stated that the only tenants behind on rent to date were Kings Garden and Vertical.
Summary
By the numbers IIPR makes for a great dividend payer. It seems that the issues with delinquent tenants are temporary and the impact to profits manageable, seeing as Kings Garden accounts for only 6.6% of company invested capital. On the other hand, other operators may find themselves in similar financial positions if economic conditions and inflation continue to deteriorate. It also concerns me that the entire business model is vulnerable to shifts in political demeanor. For now this is one I’m keeping an eye on.
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