Health Care REIT Q3 FFO Rises;narrows 2014 Normalized FFO/shr View - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Health Care REIT Inc. (HCN) reported that its funds from operations for the third quarter ended September 30, 2014 rose to $316.51 million from the previous year's $258.26 million, while funds from operations grew to $1.01 from $0.90 in the prior year.

Net income attributable to common stockholders for the third quarter significantly increased to $136.26 million from the prior year's $20.69 million, with earnings per share improving to $0.44 from $0.07 in the prior year.

Normalized Funds from operations per share was $1.04 up from $0.97 last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.03 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Gross revenues for the quarter were $847.52 million higher than the previous year's $783.71 million. Wall Street expected revenues of $834.06 million.

The Board of Directors declared a cash dividend for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 of $0.795 per share, as compared to $0.765 per share for the same period in 2013, representing a 4% increase.

On November 20, 2014, the company will pay its 174th consecutive quarterly cash dividend. The Board of Directors also approved a new 2015 quarterly cash dividend rate of $0.825 per share ($3.30 per share annually), which represents a 4% increase, commencing with the February 2015 dividend payment.

The company narrowed its 2014 guidance and now expects to generate normalized FFO in a range of $4.07 to $4.13 per share from the previous range of $4.05 to $4.15 per diluted share, now representing a 7%-8% increase from 2013. Analysts expect annual earnings of $4.09 per share. The company narrowed its normalized FAD guidance to a range of $3.59 to $3.65 per share from the previous range of $3.57 to $3.67 per diluted share, now representing a 7%-9% increase from 2013. Net income attributable to common stockholders guidance has been increased to a range of $1.18 to $1.24 per share from the previous range of $1.02 to $1.12 per share primarily due to gains on property dispositions.