Welltower Inc. (WELL) shares plunged 15.04% in after-hours on Friday, July 9, 2021, and closed the weekly trading at $73.43 per share. Earlier in the morning session of Friday, WELL’s stock gained 1.81% to close Friday’s session at $86.43 per share. WELL shares have risen 75.67% over the last 12 months, and they have moved up 3.22% in the past week. Over the past three months, the stock has gained 15.07%, while over the past six months, it has declined 36.54%.
Let’s discuss its recent news and developments briefly.
2020 Environmental, Social and Governance Report
On July 7, 2021, Welltower Inc released its annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report. The report reviews Welltower’s continued strong performance in 2020 across a range of ESG initiatives including diversity and inclusion, environmental responsibility, and corporate governance.
Closing of $500 million Senior Unsecured Notes Offering
On June 29, 2021, Welltower Inc closed its offering of $500 million in 2.050% senior unsecured notes due January 2029.
The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including repayment of debt and investing in health care and seniors housing properties.
Seniors Housing Occupancy Gains in June
Welltower Inc seniors housing operating portfolio is seeing a recovery in occupancy. The SHO portfolio occupancy expanded 140 basis points surpassing the company’s initial guidance of around 130 bps gains for the full second quarter on June 18, 2021. Total portfolio occupancy advanced 180 bps from the pandemic since March 12, 2021.
The company’s U.S. and U.K. SHO portfolios reported occupancy gains of roughly 210 bps and 170 bps, respectively, from the start of the current quarter till June 18, 2021.
Acquisition of Holiday Retirement properties
On June 21, 2021, Welltower® Inc. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a portfolio of 86 seniors housing properties, including 80 nearly identical independent living and six combinations of independent living/assisted living properties, currently owned by Holiday Retirement for $1.58 billion.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2021 and Atria Senior Living will run operations of the properties and retain Holiday’s in-place senior management and staff.
A new strong relationship with Monarch Communities
On June 10, 2021, Welltower® Inc formed a new relationship with Monarch Communities. Monarch is a new brand founded by industry veterans Michael Glynn, Ross Dingman, and Andrew Teeters, who have decades of senior living experience and is a vertically integrated senior living provider with expertise in development, design-build, management, and long-term ownership.
Revised Q2 2021 financial outlook
On June 8, 2021, Welltower® Inc revised its second-quarter 2021 outlook. The company now set a target of $0.34 – $0.38 income per diluted share as compared to previous guidance of $0.31 – $0.36 per diluted share.
The company now expecting to get normalized funds from operations in a range of $0.75 – $0.79 per diluted share as compared to previous guidance of $0.72 – $0.77 per diluted share.
Conclusion
Well, as of this writing there was no recent news which we could link with its Friday performance. But WELL is doing well in the recent past and it is recovering from pandemic so we can expect it to perform positively on Monday.
