Updated on April 1st, 2025 by Felix Martinez
Real estate and dividend stocks are two of the most popular vehicles for creating passive retirement income.
The downside to owning rental properties is that it is not really passive. Any landlord who has had to call a plumber or an electrician during the middle of the night can attest to this.
Real estate investment trusts—or REITs—are very attractive investment vehicles for investors looking to capture the returns of the real estate sector while benefiting from the hands-off approach of dividend stocks.
EPR Properties (EPR) is one of the most well-known REITs. In the second half of 2021, EPR reinstated its monthly dividend after suspending it for over a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That means EPR rejoined the list of monthly dividend stocks. We’ve compiled a list of 76 monthly dividend stocks, along with important financial metrics like dividend yields and payout ratios, which you can view by clicking on the link below:
This article will analyze the investment prospects of EPR Properties in detail.
Business Overview
EPR Properties is a triple net lease real estate investment trust focusing on entertainment, recreation, and education properties.
A triple net lease means that the tenant is responsible for paying the three main costs associated with real estate: taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Operating as a triple net lease REIT reduces EPR Properties’ operating expenses.
EPR has identified entertainment, recreation, and education as the three large buckets it invests in. It has then identified attractive sub-segments of those larger segments, including movie theaters, ski resorts, and charter schools.
Source: Investor Presentation
EPR is focused in various metropolitan areas throughout the US and parts of Canada, so it is highly diversified geographically as well as with its tenants.
EPR Properties reported 2024 revenue of $698.1 million, slightly down from $705.7 million in 2023. Net income fell to $121.9 million from $148.9 million, while funds from operations as adjusted (FFOAA) totaled $373.9 million. The company introduced 2025 FFOAA guidance of $4.94 to $5.14 per share, a 3.5% increase at the midpoint, and raised its monthly dividend by 3.5% to an annualized $3.54 per share.
The company invested $263.9 million in 2024, with $49.3 million spent in Q4, and committed $150 million to future experiential projects. It generated $74.4 million from property sales, including vacant theaters and education centers, and exited an underperforming RV property, incurring a $16.1 million impairment charge.
EPR ended the year with $22.1 million in cash and $175 million drawn from its $1.0 billion credit facility. Its $6.9 billion portfolio is 93% experiential properties and 7% education. The company projects 2025 investment spending of $200–$300 million and property sales of $25–$75 million, focusing on high-growth experiential assets.
Growth Prospects
Prior to 2020, EPR had maintained a track record of steady growth. From 2010 to 2019, EPR compounded its adjusted FFO-per-share by almost 8% per year. The coronavirus pandemic upended virtually all REITs and caused EPR’s FFO-per-share to decline from $5.44 in 2019 to $1.43 in 2020.
Although the company faced major challenges during the pandemic, which showed in its financial results, EPR continues to recover strongly. EPR still has many opportunities to drive its growth. The company’s focus on experiential properties protects it against e-commerce threats. EPR believes that consumers will still want these experiences, and thus, its properties will generate strong traffic.
The company believes there’s strong future growth potential in location-based entertainment and several underpenetrated experiential segments in experiential real estate. The company believes there is a $100 billion+ addressable market opportunity there.
EPR has reduced its education portfolio while growing most of its property types in its experiential portfolio. EPR will focus on growing all property types in its experiential portfolio, except for theatres. The company wants to reduce its dependence on theatres, which account for 37% of annualized adjusted EBITDA across 157 properties with 17 operators.
Source: Investor Presentation
We expect 2% annual FFO-per-share growth over the next five years. EPR’s growth will be fueled by its competitive advantages, primarily its portfolio of specialized properties. Through years of experience, EPR has methodically identified the most profitable properties and focused its investments in these areas.
Competitive Advantage & Recession Performance
The company’s focus on experiential properties gives it a competitive advantage by protecting it against e-commerce threats. EPR believes that its properties will generate strong traffic, as consumers will still want those experiences.
The company certainly isn’t immune to recessions, but due to its business model and advantages, we see EPR as one of the better-run REITs in our coverage universe. A return to growth should allow the company to raise the dividend slowly over time.
Dividend Analysis
EPR’s dividend history was impressive heading into 2020. The company increased its annual per-share dividend by roughly 6% per year from 2010 to 2019. Of course, the pandemic forced the company to suspend its dividend for most of 2020.
Fortunately, EPR management expects its recovery to continue. This expectation gave management confidence to increase the monthly dividend 3.5% from a rate of $0.285 per share in March 2025 to $0.295, which equals an annual dividend of $3.54.
On an annualized basis, the $3.54 per share dividend is still below the pre-COVID payout of $4.59 per share. Still, at this level, EPR stock yields 7.6%. Therefore, EPR stock is still attractive for income investors as a high dividend stock.
EPR has a reasonably leveraged capital structure that affords it some flexibility. It has worked to repair its balance sheet in the wake of the pandemic to improve its dividend safety and growth potential further.
Source: Investor Presentation
EPR’s debt totals about $2.9 billion, with a weighted average debt maturity of 3 years and a weighted average interest rate of 4.4%. It has a $1 billion credit revolver that now has a zero balance, giving EPR plenty of liquidity.
All of this supports EPR’s growth plans and, by extension, its ability to not only pay its dividend but also, hopefully, raise it over time.
EPR’s dividend appears to be secure, and the trust will likely continue to raise it at meaningful rates over time if its FFO continues to recover back to pre-COVID levels. This makes the stock attractive for those seeking current income and dividend growth.
Final Thoughts
EPR Properties looks to be performing very well following the pandemic and continues to recover strongly into 2025.
The REIT has a dominant position in the ownership of movie theaters, recreational facilities, and educational properties.
These are relatively small subsegments of the real estate industry, which gives EPR the advantage of being a ‘big fish in a small pond.’
EPR Properties stock has a 7.6% dividend yield and has resumed its monthly dividend payments. As a result, it is once again an appealing stock for income investors looking for high yields and monthly payouts.
Of course, this depends on the continued recovery in EPR’s portfolio metrics and financial results. Based on all these factors, EPR Properties appears to be a good choice for income investors or investors looking for some exposure to high-yield REITs.
Don’t miss the resources below for more monthly dividend stock investing research.
- The Monthly Dividend Stocks List
- 20 Highest Yielding Monthly Dividend Stocks
- 10 Cheapest Monthly Dividend Stocks
- 10 Safest Monthly Dividend Stocks
- 3 Top ‘Hold Forever’ Monthly Dividend Stocks
And see the resources below for more compelling investment ideas for dividend growth stocks and/or high-yield investment securities.
- Dividend Kings: 50+ years of rising dividends
- Dividend Champions: 25+ years of rising dividends
- Dividend Aristocrats: 25+ years of rising dividends and in the S&P 500
- Dividend Achievers: 10+ years of rising dividends and in the NASDAQ
- High Dividend Stocks: 4%+ dividend yields
- Blue Chip Stock: Kings, Aristocrats, and Achievers
- MLPs: List of MLPs and more
- REITs: List of REITs and more
- BDCs: List of BDCs and more