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- Pays: monthly — usually going ex-dividend in the last days of the month.
- Paying since: March 2013 — 161 monthly dividends, though the amount has been cut many times along the way, most recently from $0.12 to $0.10 in April 2026 (trailing year: $1.36, down 6%).
- What it is: a leveraged mortgage REIT like AGNC — borrowing short to own government-backed mortgage bonds — but smaller, more leveraged (debt near 7.7 times equity per recent statistics), and historically far less stable. A 1:5 reverse split in August 2022 sits in the record.
- Price vs. book: the recent ~$6.72 share price sits about 7% below the $7.22 book value per share (August 2026) — the mirror image of AGNC, which trades at a premium. The market pays up for AGNC's frozen dividend and discounts ORC's cutting one.
- The record nobody screenshots: repeated dividend cuts and reverse stock splits; a dollar invested at the 2013 IPO has spent a decade shrinking even with dividends reinvested.
- The honest framing: ORC's ~20% yield is the market demanding extreme compensation for extreme rate risk — it is priced like a warning because it is one.
ORC has reduced its dividend many times and executed reverse splits; our split-adjusted data shows the true per-share trajectory, which no headline yield conveys.
ORC pays monthly. Each point below is one dividend since 2013, split-adjusted — the long staircase runs downward, which is the page's honest headline.
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Each point is one payment; the line ends at the most recent payout. The table below totals them by year.
- Trailing 12 months: $1.32 per share across 12 payments — down 8% from $1.44 in the 12 months before (split-adjusted, in today's share terms). What a change like that does to your income →
- Current pace: recent payments annualize to $1.20 — 9% below the trailing figure. When those two disagree, the trailing yield is quoting the past. Live cut & raise board →
- Share price, same 12 months: down 29% (dividends excluded) — income and principal are one story. Erosion Index →
- Record: 163 payments over 14 years; the largest single payment was $0.9 (Dec 2013), split-adjusted.
- Payment drops ≥20% below trend, last 24 months: none. Get one short email if that changes →
- Payment steadiness: the last 12 checks wobble ±9% around their median. Compare that against any fund →
Every figure above is computed from ORC's actual payment record and share-price history as of the date shown — not copied from a fact sheet. Recomputed regularly; the chart above always shows the live data.
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| Recent Ex-Dividend Dates | Dividend / Share |
|---|
"Next expected" is estimated from ORC's recent payment rhythm — the fund announces exact dates shortly before each payout, and the data feed can lag a few days. You must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout; the cash typically arrives days later. See every fund's upcoming date on the live dividend calendar.
A real total-return estimate, assuming every payout was reinvested — including what happened to the share price. Before taxes and fees. Past performance does not predict the future.
ORC runs the same basic machine as AGNC — leveraged spreads on agency mortgage bonds — with a smaller balance sheet and historically hotter leverage. The result across thirteen years: monthly checks that never stopped, but stepped down repeatedly as rate cycles battered the book, with reverse splits repackaging the decline. Split-adjusted, the chart above tells it straight.
This page exists because ORC tops every yield screen and someone should show the whole picture. If you want the mortgage-REIT trade, AGNC's five-year-flat $0.12 is the steadier expression; if you want durable monthly income, MAIN and Realty Income are different species entirely. The backtest above is the referee.
| Year | Total Dividends / Share | Payments | Change vs Prior Year |
|---|
Data source: Yahoo Finance. Figures are per share; the current year may be partial and figures should be verified against official sources.
Calculated from complete calendar years in the data above. Past results don't guarantee future payments.
When Is ORC's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
ORC pays monthly — usually going ex-dividend in the last days of the month. The exact date of each payout is announced by the fund only shortly beforehand, so no site can promise the next date — but the live schedule box above shows the most recent ex-dividend date and the expected window for the next one, computed from ORC's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
Thirteen Years, Adjusted for Honesty
Orchid Island has paid monthly since 2013, and on a raw chart the early years look modest — until you adjust for the reverse splits, which our data does. Split-adjusted, the story is a long descent: dividends near $2.60 a share annually in the mid-2010s, around $1.20 today, with the share price tracing the same slope. The checks never stopped; they shrank.
Why the Machine Keeps Cutting
A leveraged spread between short borrowing and long mortgage bonds is profitable in calm rate weather and brutal in storms — and the 2010s and 2020s supplied storms on schedule. Each one compressed ORC's book value; each smaller book supported a smaller dividend. It is the same physics as AGNC with less cushion, and the two charts side by side are a lesson in how much balance-sheet conservatism matters.
Where ORC Fits
As a knowing, tactical position for rate-cycle traders — or as this site's clearest exhibit of why we flag every 20%+ trailing yield with a warning triangle. For the durable version of monthly income, see MAIN, O, or SPHD. Next expected date on the live calendar.
How to Choose Dividend Stocks
Yield traps, coverage, and the difference between paid-to-wait and paid-to-shrink — in plain English.
Read: How to Choose Dividend Stocks