One of the best income stock “wins” is when one of your investments increases its dividend rate. It’s like getting an automatic raise that you didn’t have to work harder for or even ask for. Today I’ll break out five real estate investment trusts –REITs– with a high probability of announcing a dividend increase in March. Dividend increases often come with share price increases when the market sees the new higher dividend rate. You can turn a win into a win-win by buying REIT shares a few weeks before a dividend hike announcement, a strategy we use in 30 Day Dividends. You can use this information to generate short term trading profits or for longer term, yield-focused investments.

Over the last week I worked on updating my REIT database. I track yields, dividend growth rates, market caps and dug out when each REIT usually announces a dividend rate increase. For background, my database includes about 120 equity REITs with market caps of at least $1 billion. Out of that group, about two-thirds have patterns of dividend growth over the period since the 2007-2008 recession and the other third consists of REITs that have not been increasing dividend payments to investors.

To get to the meat of the article, here are the five REITs that have historically announced annual dividend increases in March, working from early in the month to the latter days:

Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO) is a shopping center REIT that typically announces a new, higher dividend rate in the first week of March. Last March, the TCO quarterly payout was increased by a whopping 33%. This REIT currently yields 2.9%, but a repeat of last year’s increase would push an investor’s yield up into the low 3%’s.

Saul Centers Inc. (NYSE:BFS) is another shopping center REIT that usually announces a dividend increase during the first few days of March. BFS also yields 2.9%. Last year the REIT’s quarterly dividend was bumped up by 11%. The current low yield may be an indicator that the market is expecting a larger boost to the payout this year.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) is a lodging (hotels) REIT with a record of announcing its annual dividend increase about the middle of March. Last week, I wrote about the growth potential in the Hot Hotel REITs sector, and PEB is another to add to the list. The dividend was increased by 44% last year. A repeat of that magnitude increase would turn the current 1.9% yield into a 3% yielding investment.

UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR) owns apartment communities and historically announces a new, higher dividend rate on or about March 20. Last year the dividend was increased by 10.5%. UDR currently yields 3.2%.

At the end of March, DiamondRock Hospitality Company (NYSE:DRH) should announce a new dividend rate for the next four quarters. DRH specializes in hotel ownership key gateway cities and destination resorts. Last year the company’s dividend was increased by 20.5%. The current DRH yield is 2.8%.

With my investment strategy and dividend stock selection criteria, the safest way to invest in dividend stocks is to focus on those companies with a history of regular dividend increases. This group mentioned above falls on the high growth/low yield side of the ledger, providing the potential for nice share price pops if a repeat of last year’s increase is hit or exceeded.