National Health Investors (NYSE: NHI) has offered financial guidance for the year ahead and announced a plan to buy back up to $240 million in shares.
The Murfreesboro, Tennessee-based company on Monday announced its guidance range for the full year 2022 is between $100.5 million and $103.1 million in net income, with NAREIT funds from operations (FFO) of between $198.5 million and $202.9 million.
NHI’s leaders didn’t initially offer guidance for the year ahead during the company’s fourth quarter 2021 earnings call in February, citing uncertainty over the state of the pandemic and what was then still-pending litigation with Welltower (NYSE: WELL).
The company’s 2022 guidance includes an expected $8.8 million in rental income from a Holiday lease security deposit in the first quarter of 2022, and a $6.9 million payment in the second quarter of 2022 related to the company’s recent settlement with Welltower. It also includes rent concessions, asset dispositions and repayment of a $111 million loan this year.
Additionally, the guidance reflects expected net operating income from the company’s newly forged joint ventures with Discovery Senior Living and Merrill Gardens.
In addition to setting guidance for the year ahead, the company’s board of directors has approved a plan to repurchase up to $240 million in shares over a one-year period. The timing and number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including price, market and economic conditions, investment opportunities and other corporate considerations, the REIT noted.
NHI is not obligated to purchase a specific number of shares under its plan — and at the end of the day, the company’s executives would prefer to buy real estate, according to Dana Hambly, vice president of finance and investor relations at NHI.
“While we’d like to redeploy our capital into buying real estate, it’s not certain the pipeline is large enough right now to support redeploying so much,” Hambly told Senior Housing News.