Key Takeaways
- NNN REIT yields 6.0% and Agree Realty yields 4.8%, and both grew AFFO per share in the third quarter of 2026.
- Both dividends are well-covered, at 71% of AFFO for Agree and 69% for NNN in fiscal 2025.
- Agree’s dividend grew 5.1% a year from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2025, against 2.7% for NNN, but NNN’s fiscal 2025 raise was the bigger of the two.
- NNN trades at 12x forward AFFO, below its five-year average, against 15x for Agree.
Agree Realty (ADC) and NNN REIT (NNN) just reported third quarters with almost nothing empty. Agree’s properties were 99.8% leased on Sept. 30, and NNN’s were 99.2% occupied. AFFO per share rose 4.9% from a year earlier at Agree and 5.8% at NNN.
Both keep raising their dividends, too. On Oct. 13, Agree declared a monthly dividend of $0.271 a share, which annualizes to $3.252, 3.4% more than a year earlier. NNN pays $0.62 a share a quarter after its latest 3.3% raise, and it says it’s one of only three publicly traded REITs to have raised its annual dividend for 37 or more years in a row.
For income investors, though, the two offer different things. NNN pays the bigger check, a 6.0% yield against Agree’s 4.8%. Agree’s dividend has grown faster: 5.1% a year from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2025, against 2.7% for NNN. So which is the better dividend stock?
| Metric | Agree Realty (ADC) | NNN REIT (NNN) |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 4.8% | 6.0% |
| Annual dividend | $3.25 (paid monthly) | $2.48 (paid quarterly) |
| Dividend growth, fiscal 2020-2025 | 5.1% a year | 2.7% a year |
| AFFO payout ratio, fiscal 2025 | 71% | 69% |
| AFFO payout ratio, 2026 consensus | 70% | 68% |
| Net debt/EBITDA (LTM) | 5.1x | 5.8x |
| Price/AFFO (NTM) | 15x | 12x |
Source: TIKR, Nov. 5, 2026; StockAnalysis for the annual dividend.
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Agree Realty is picking its spots
Agree is still growing, just more selectively. When it reported on Oct. 20, it raised its 2026 AFFO guidance to $4.58 to $4.59 a share and trimmed its investment guidance to about $1.6 billion. CEO Joey Agree said on the third-quarter call that the company did that “by culling lower yield opportunities and aggressively repricing our pipeline.” It has also committed a company record of more than $255 million to development projects in the first nine months of the year.
Agree’s dividend is well-covered: it paid out 71% of its AFFO in fiscal 2025, and 2026 consensus puts the ratio at 70%. AFFO per share has grown faster than the dividend over the past decade, from $2.51 in fiscal 2016 to $4.33 in fiscal 2025, which took the payout ratio down from 76.5% to 71.1%:
Agree names a rising cost of capital among its risks. And at 2.6x, its interest coverage is the thinner of the two.
NNN REIT just keeps raising
Agree cut its investment plans, but NNN kept its 2026 acquisition guidance at $700 million to $800 million when it reported on Nov. 4. It also held its AFFO guidance at $3.55 to $3.59 a share. Annualized base rent rose 6.8% from a year earlier to $974.0 million. NNN also cut its full-year bad-debt guidance to about 25 basis points of rent, from 40.
NNN’s dividend is a touch better covered than Agree’s: 68.6% of AFFO in fiscal 2025, and 68% on 2026 consensus. NNN kept raising its dividend in fiscal 2020 too, when AFFO per share fell to $2.51 from $2.80 and the payout ratio jumped to a stretched 82.5%:
CFO Vincent Chao said on the third-quarter call that NNN’s history through many cycles “has allowed us to continue to raise that dividend year in, year out regardless of what’s going on around us.”
NNN carries more debt, at 5.8x net debt to EBITDA, though its 2.8x interest coverage is the stronger of the two. It also names Camping World and Dave & Buster’s among its tenants under cyclical pressure.
So which dividend wins?
For me, NNN REIT is the better dividend stock. It pays $600 a year on $10,000 today, against $480 from Agree Realty, and its dividend is covered just as well.
At its 5-year growth rate, Agree’s income would pass NNN’s in about 9.4 years, around 2036. Even then, the two run nearly even in year 10: about $752 from Agree and $760 from NNN, a 7.5% and a 7.6% yield on the original $10,000. But Agree raised its dividend 2.7% in fiscal 2025, less than NNN’s 3.1%. At the pace each is growing now, Agree never catches up. In year 10, $10,000 would pay about $608 from Agree and about $787 from NNN.
NNN is also the cheaper stock. It trades at 12x forward AFFO, against Agree’s 15x, and below its own five-year average of 13x:
None of this makes Agree’s dividend unsafe. It’s well-covered, it carries less debt, it pays monthly, and management expects mid-single-digit AFFO per share growth in 2027. It’s just that NNN pays the bigger check on the same coverage, with the longer record, and Agree isn’t growing its dividend fast enough right now to make up the difference.
Of course, NNN has a $350 million bond due in December to refinance, and both companies say capital is getting more expensive. The rate NNN gets on that new debt is the next thing to watch.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
