Dividend stock investing is an important part of financial planning for people nearing or in retirement. Careful dividend planning can provide consistent and steady income for paying bills, traveling, assisting with the education of grandchildren or just having fun. But finding solid and dependable dividend companies is not always easy for many investors.

One way to measure the performance of a company is to look at its five-year dividend history. Five years of substantial dividend growth indicates a company has performed well through up and down economic cycles and provides a snapshot of its present earnings and prospects for the future.

Take a look at one industrial real estate investment trust (REIT) with an impressive five-year dividend growth performance, and see how much a $10,000 investment in August 2018 would be generating in dividends today:

Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. (NYSE:REXR) is a Los Angeles-based industrial REIT founded in 2001. It owns or manages 365 properties and 44.2 million square feet, all of which are in Southern California's high-growth areas. Rexford Industrial Realty's market capitalization is $11.3 billion, and it's a member of the S&P 400.

If you had invested $10,000 in Rexford Industrial Realty in August 2018, you would have purchased 312.11 shares at $32.04 per share. Your shares would now be worth $18,068.43, for a total gain of $8,068.43 or 80.68%.

If you had reinvested your dividends rather than collecting them, you would now own 344.72 shares and the value of your stock would have grown to $18,269.98, a gain of $8,269.98, or 82.69%.

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In August 2018, Rexford Industrial Realty paid a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share. Since then, Rexford Industrial Realty has increased its dividend five times to reach $0.38 by March. That's a 137.5% increase over five years. 

The forward annual dividend of $1.52 per share presently yields 2.9%.

On July 19, Rexford Industrial Realty reported its second-quarter operating results. Funds from operations were $0.54, up from $0.49 in the second quarter of 2022 and ahead of estimates by a penny per share. Revenue of $194.1 million was also higher than revenue of $148.99 million from the first quarter of 2022, but $2.6 million below Wall Street estimates.

One caveat: Rexford Industrial's price/funds from operations (FFO0 ratio of 24.33 is still high, even after its share price fell approximately $13 per share over the last 18 months. However, the payout ratio of 69% means the dividend coverage is more than adequate.

On July 24, Rexford Industrial Realty announced the acquisition of a Southern California industrial property in Santa Fe Springs for $210 million. The property sits on 22.4 acres and is 100% leased to two tenants. The purchase was funded from proceeds of forward equity settlements.

Rexford Industrial Realty has had no analyst rating or price target changes since June. Mizuho presently has a Neutral rating on it, with a price target of $52, about $1 below its most recent closing price. Year to date, the stock is down 1.01%.