Ventas Makes Changes, Dividend Is Not One Of Them
The earnings reporting season is coming to an end, and the odds were that Ventas would cut their second quarter dividend payable in July, much like what Welltower, Sabra Health Care REIT and Diversified Healthcare Trust have done. They would have every reason or excuse to do it. A cut was already somewhat embedded into their share price. Their funds available for distribution were shrinking. But it didn’t happen. A decision will be made about the next dividend sometime in June. Investors were pleased, sending the shares up by 10.5% on May 8, driving the yield down a bit to 10.5%. That is still double its recent “normalized” dividend yield, which has been in the 4.5% to 5.5% range in... Read More »
Going Concern Problems at Capital Senior Living
Late last Friday, Capital Senior Living announced that it expects to disclose its first quarter earnings results before the market opens on May 21, and then hold its conference call with analysts. It will not be pretty. Also late Friday, the company filed an 8-K with the SEC stating that the coronavirus was taking its toll, and we quote: “The sudden onset of COVID-19 has had a significant adverse impact on occupancy levels, revenues, expenses and operating results at our communities. Although we are unable to predict the full nature and extent of the impact of COVID-19 at this time, we expect COVID-19 will continue to have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial... Read More »
Welltower Reports Q1 Earnings
Welltower announced its first quarter earnings last week, and the REIT caused a bit of a buzz by cutting its May 2020 dividend to $0.61 per share from the previous dividend of $0.87 per share. Cutting dividends is not as rare an event these days, just ask Sabra Health Care REIT or Diversified Healthcare Trust, but if you’re a REIT, this may be the best time to do it. Welltower further added to its liquidity by settling forward equity sales agreements totaling $588 million and closing a $1 billion unsecured, two-year term loan that bears interest at LIBOR plus 120, and adding $110 million of incremental cash flow retained per quarter by cutting the dividend. The REIT also completed pro rata... Read More »
Early Signs of COVID-19 In Several REIT Earnings Reports
Several publicly traded seniors housing and care companies released their first earnings reports after the COVID-19 crisis, and while most of the results showed signs of the virus’ effect, the worst is most likely yet to come. As a consequence of that, each company pulled their 2020 guidance, but no surprise there. LTC Properties reported on May 4th, and there were some results unfortunately typical for this time. Private pay occupancy fell from 86% at December 31 to 83% by March 31 and 80% on April 23rd. For skilled nursing, average monthly occupancy for December 2019, March 2020 and April to-date respectively was 79%, 78% and 75%. That drop from March to April is roughly in line... Read More »
