Hi there,
Although the company does rank well - it is important to note that the company already cut the dividend once this year. Prior to cutting the dividend, it only ranked a 2.3 as it had high payout ratios and the dividend seemed to be more at risk. Sure enough, they did end up cutting once the pandemic hit.
Since the dividend was slashed by 50%, the payout ratios have improved. To your point, the dividend does seem well covered based on the new dividend payout. At least for now.
One of the issues with MRT is the fact that although it is a diversified REIT (retail, office, industrial) - it generates most of its revenue from the retail segment. We know that retail is under significant pressure and Black Friday saw significant decrease in traffic for in-store shopping. This is likely to remain the case through the holidays as the trajectory for COVID is looking like a peak around the 25th of December if it follows the same path as the first wave.
Given the company's high exposure to retail, collection rates are still below 90%. Between August and October, it averaged around 87% collection which isn't great considering many REITs are back above 95% or inline with historical averages. Bottom line, the dividend does appear to be well covered right now, but it is still dealing with plenty of headwinds.
Mat