For the past 40 years, this firm has become an elite source of income for investors, thanks in large part to the 543 consecutive monthly dividends it has paid.

I’m willing to bet most of you have never heard of it.

Yet the company I’m referring to has become the very definition of a monthly dividend-paying stock.

It’s never missed a single one of its monthly dividends since 1969, shelling out more than $3.5 billion to shareholders during its 40+ year run.

And that payout has increased 81 times during that span as well.

I’m talking about Realty Income Corp (NYSE: O).

Despite this impressive and consistent track record, you may be wondering why you’ve never heard of the company before.

That’s because Realty Income is a real estate investment trust (REIT). 

The average investor on the street has probably never heard of this lucrative asset class, but it’s exactly the kind of off-the-radar investment I look for to deliver market-beating income in my premium advisory, High-Yield Investing. 

You see, thanks to their unique structure, REITs are obligated by law to pass along 90% of their income to investors — in the form of dividends. 

That means a company like Realty Income — that leases its properties out to many of the biggest corporations in the country — can deliver steadily rising dividends and carry yields that far outpace most regular stocks.

But before I go any further, take a look at the company’s top 14 tenants…

As you can see, lease payments from these 14 firms — which include the likes of Walgreens, FedEx, CVS Pharmacy and even Wal-Mart — make up a majority of Realty Income’s revenue.

The top 20 tenants accounted for about $516 million of the company’s revenue in 2014. In total the firm brought in $934 million in revenue for the year — a 20% increase from the year prior and a whopping 96% increase from 2012.

That growth has translated to the company’s earnings as well, which — at $228 million in 2014 — is a 12% increase from 2013 and an amazing 98% gain from 2012.

That growth can be attributed to several factors. First, the company has added 83 new tenants over that two-year span, bringing its total number of rent-earning properties to roughly 4,400.

It also doesn’t hurt that rents are going up. On average, tenants are paying about 1.5% more than they were a year ago. Keep in mind, even a modest 1% increase translates into millions of additional income each year.

But the biggest growth driver was the $3.2 billion acquisition of American Realty Capital Trust the company executed back in 2013, which gave it control of 515 additional properties.

Yet maybe the most impressive number behind Realty Income’s success is its current occupancy rate, which sits at 98.2%. In fact, since being founded in 1969 the firm has never had an occupancy rate below 96%.

On average, Realty Income’s tenants have another 10.3 years remaining on their lease, which means the company has another decade of solid rental income already locked in. With such high-profile clients on its list of tenants, those revenues are practically all but guaranteed.

This kind of stability is a major reason why Realty Income’s dividends have been steadily climbing for years. Recently, the company joined the Dividend Aristocrats, an exclusive club reserved for stocks with at least 25 consecutive years of dividend hikes.

In fact, over just the past five years, Realty Income has boosted its annual payout by 30%. At current prices it’s offering a nice yield of about 5% — more than double the 2% yield currently being paid by the average S&P stock.

Combine that with Realty Income’s 80% total return over the past five years, and it’s easy to see why “in-the-know” investors love this stock:

Bottom line: Realty Income boasts a reliable income stream from many of the country’s most profitable tenants and an astounding record of 543 consecutive monthly dividends. I’m fully confident that investors who buy today will be able to collect number 544 when it’s paid out — along with many, many more for years to come. 

It’s one of the main reasons why I’ve included Realty Income in my list of unique dividend-payers known as “The High-Yield Hall of Fame.”

These companies have combined for 151 dividend increases in the past decade and pay yields of up to 8.7%… 9.1%… and even 13%. Put simply, these are among the most lucrative, shareholder-friendly companies on the planet.

The names of all of these elite high-yielders are available in my new report: “The High-Yield Hall of Fame Class of 2015.” You can get this report by simply following this link.