Become Uncle Sam's landlord: Earn up to an 14.8% yield with these REITs that rent to the US government

Easterly Government Properties (DEA)

Easterly is not the largest REIT on the market, but it stands out among its peers for a very simple reason: The company’s mission is to acquire, develop and manage commercial properties leased to the U.S. government.

In its latest investor presentation, the REIT said 98% of its lease income is “backed by full faith and credit of the U.S. government.” Few tenants are more reliable.

As of Dec. 31, Easterly’s portfolio consisted of 86 properties totaling 8.7 million square feet. They were 99% leased, with a weighted average remaining lease term of 10.3 years.

The company pays quarterly dividends 26.5 cents per share. At the current share price, that translates to an annual yield of 7.3%.

While Easterly might seem like an obvious choice, given the caliber of its tenants, the stock is actually down 30% over the past 12 months.

And that could give contrarian investors something to think about.

While Easterly has received an average rating of “hold” from Wall Street analysts, their average price target of $17.25 is 18% higher than where the stock sits today.

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Office Properties Income Trust (OPI)

As the name suggests, this REIT owns a lot of office buildings — its portfolio consists of 162 properties totaling 21.2 million square feet.

While real estate prices in the U.S. have been trending upward, OPI hasn’t gotten much investor attention.

Over the past 12 months, OPI shares have tumbled 40%.

But there is something that makes the company stand out: it has a quarterly dividend rate of 55 cents per share and an annual yield of 14.8%.

To put that in perspective, the average S&P 500 company yields just 1.7% at the moment.

Unlike Easterly, OPI is not a pure-play government landlord. But the U.S. government is the REIT’s biggest tenant, contributing 19.1% to its annualized base rent.

Its other top tenants include big names like Google parent company Alphabet, the State of California and Bank of America.

The company says it earns 63% of its revenue from investment grade tenants — that is, tenants that pose a low risk of default.

In Q4 of 2022, the REIT leased 705,000 square feet of space for a weighted average lease term of 10.1 years.

Just like Easterly, OPI has received an average rating of Hold from analysts but the best could be yet to come: the average price target on OPI is $19 — roughly 28% above the current levels.

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