Formed in 2013 and based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, National Storage Affiliates (NSA) is a self-administered, self-managed REIT whose primary focus is acquisition, ownership and operation of self-storage facilities, notes Ned Piplovic, editor of DividendInvestor.

Since its formation in 2013 by three self-storage operators that collectively owned 100 properties, the REIT has added five additional operators and expanded its property base more than five-fold to 512 self-storage properties located in 29 states with combined rentable space of approximately 32 million square feet.

Out of the 512 total facilities, the trust wholly owns 441 locations and the remaining 71 locations are owned through joint ventures.

The REIT boosted its $0.26 quarterly dividend from the previous period by 7.7% to the current $0.28 dividend payout. This current quarterly dividend converts to a $1.12 annualized dividend amount and yields 4.2%.


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Over the 11 quarters since the REIT’s initial public offering in 2015, the trust hiked its dividend distribution amount six times, which is an average of more than twice per year.

The result of these hikes is an average growth rate of 5.8% per quarter and the doubling of the quarterly dividend amount in less than three years. The average quarterly growth rate is equivalent to a 25%-plus average annual growth rate.

Over the last year, the share price rose steadily with only one significant drop, but recovered quickly and ended the period even higher than it was prior to that downturn.

The combination of a rising dividend that pays above-average yield and a substantial asset appreciation over the last 12 months have rewarded National Storage Affiliates Trust’s shareholders with a 33.9% total return. If the REIT pays the same current dividend amount next quarter, the three-year total return will be 123%.

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