The Smartest Dividend Stock to Buy With $100 Right Now
Key Points
Realty Income leases properties to resilient retail leaders.
It has paid a monthly dividend for more than 55 years.
The dividend has a high yield.
- 10 stocks we like better than Realty Income ›
As 2025 comes to a close, the S&P 500 is up 16.6%, and there's real potential of a third year in a row of double-digit gains for the index. Does that spell trouble for 2026? Not necessarily. However, investors should be prepared at all times for the possibility of market volatility.
Part of that preparation is having a diversified portfolio of stocks, and that includes great dividend stocks. Dividend stocks are your anchors at any time, and they fortify your portfolio in case it needs to weather market turbulence. If you're looking to shore up your portfolio, Realty Income (NYSE: O) could be the best dividend stock to buy right now.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks »
Image source: Getty Images.
Everything you need in a top dividend stock
Realty Income is a real estate investment trust (REIT). REITs own and lease properties, and they pay out 90% of their earnings as dividends, which is why they often feature in the dividend portion of a great portfolio.
There are different types of REITs depending on the industry, and Realty Income is a retail REIT. Its client list includes resilient essentials retailers that can perform well in any environment, like Walmart and CVS, and no client makes up more than 3.3% of the total property portfolio. Although 80% of its properties are in retail, it has expanded into other industries like gaming and industrials, and it's also spreading out globally. This lowers its overall risk.
This stable model is how Realty Income can support an incredible and unusual dividend. It pays its dividend monthly and raises it quarterly. The company has paid it out without fail for the past 665 months, or more than 55 years, and raised it for 112 consecutive quarters.
Realty Income's dividend yields 5.5% at the current price, rounding out all the ways it provides value for passive income investors, and it could be the best dividend stock to buy right now.
Should you invest $1,000 in Realty Income right now?
Before you buy stock in Realty Income, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Realty Income wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $540,587!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,118,210!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 991% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 195% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of December 1, 2025
Jennifer Saibil has positions in Walmart. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Realty Income and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends CVS Health. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Recommended Articles
