Health Care Property Investors Inc.

The Newport Beach health care real estate investment trust posted fourth-quarter net income of $21.6 million, or 49 cents a share, down from $23 million, or 73 cents a share, which included $7.3 million from the sale of real estate properties. Funds from operations rose 44% to $36.9 million, or 82 cents a share, from $25.7 million, or 81 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 58% to $71.1 million.

For the year, net income totaled $78.5 million, or $2.25 a share, compared with $78.6 million, or $2.54 a share, for 1998. Funds from operations rose 19% to a record $114.5 million, or $3.22 a share, from $96.3 million, or $3.06 a share, for the prior-year period. Revenue advanced 39% to $224.8 million.

Directors increased the company’s quarterly cash dividend by 1 cent a share to 72 cents a share, marking the 57th consecutive quarterly increase in the payment of dividends since the company’s inception in 1985.