Company Description
National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE: NHI) is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the financing and ownership of senior housing and medical facilities. Incorporated in 1991 and classified in the finance and insurance sector under other financial vehicles, the company concentrates on need-driven and discretionary senior housing and healthcare-related real estate.
According to company disclosures, National Health Investors specializes in sale-leaseback transactions, joint ventures, senior housing operating partnerships, and mortgage and mezzanine financing for senior housing and medical investments. Through these structures, NHI provides capital to operators while retaining an interest in the underlying real estate or operations.
Business Segments and Portfolio Focus
NHI reports two primary segments:
- Real Estate Investments – This segment includes real estate investments and leases, mortgages, and other notes receivable. The underlying properties include independent living facilities, assisted living and memory care communities, entrance-fee retirement communities, senior living campuses, skilled nursing facilities, and specialty hospitals. Rental income and interest income from mortgage and other notes receivable are key revenue sources in this segment, as described in company materials.
- Senior Housing Operating Portfolio ("SHOP") – This segment consists of ventures that own and operate independent living and other senior housing communities. In the SHOP structure, NHI participates more directly in the operating performance of the communities, with revenues reported as resident fees and services, net of senior housing operating expenses.
Across its portfolio, NHI emphasizes both need-driven senior housing, such as assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing, and discretionary senior housing, such as independent living and entrance-fee retirement communities. Company descriptions consistently reference a mix of senior living campuses and specialty hospitals, reflecting a focus on healthcare-related real estate.
Investment Strategy and Capital Deployment
National Health Investors describes an investment strategy centered on senior housing and medical facilities through several structures:
- Sale-leasebacks, where NHI acquires properties and leases them back to operators under triple-net or similar leases.
- Joint ventures and senior housing operating partnerships, in which NHI partners with operators and may participate in operating results through the SHOP segment.
- Mortgage and mezzanine financing, including construction loans and loans with purchase options, secured by senior housing and medical properties.
Recent company announcements highlight investments in assisted living and memory care communities, independent living facilities, and continuing care or retirement communities, often structured with initial lease rates or loan interest rates and, in some cases, options to purchase the underlying properties. These transactions illustrate how NHI applies its stated focus on senior housing and medical investments through both equity and debt capital.
Revenue Sources
Based on company descriptions and financial disclosures, NHI’s revenues are derived from:
- Rental income from real estate investments under lease agreements, including triple-net master leases.
- Interest income from mortgage notes and other notes receivable secured by senior housing and medical facilities.
- Resident fees and services from the SHOP segment, where NHI consolidates the operations of certain senior housing communities.
In its communications, NHI also discusses metrics commonly used by REITs, such as net income attributable to common stockholders, funds from operations (FFO), normalized FFO, and funds available for distribution (FAD), as well as net operating income (NOI) from the SHOP segment. These measures are used by the company to describe performance and capital allocation in its filings and press releases.
Capital Structure and Financing
NHI’s common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NHI. The company has disclosed the use of a senior unsecured revolving credit facility, bank term loans, and senior notes as part of its capital structure. For example, National Health Investors completed an underwritten public offering of 5.350% senior notes due 2033, governed by an indenture that includes covenants such as limitations on additional indebtedness and requirements to maintain a pool of unencumbered assets.
The company also utilizes an at-the-market equity program and forward sale agreements to issue common stock, as described in its earnings-related press releases and 8-K filings. NHI notes that it monitors leverage using measures such as net debt to adjusted EBITDA and references investment grade credit ratings from major rating agencies in its communications.
Risk Considerations Highlighted by the Company
National Health Investors’ press releases and SEC filings include extensive discussions of risk factors. Among the areas the company highlights are:
- The operating success of tenants, managers, and borrowers for collection of rent and interest income.
- Risks that tenants, managers, or borrowers may become subject to bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings.
- Concentration of a significant percentage of the portfolio with a small number of tenants.
- Exposure to governmental regulations and payors, principally Medicare and Medicaid, and the effect of changes in laws, regulations, and reimbursement rates on tenants and borrowers.
- Potential impacts of pandemics, epidemics, or outbreaks on operators’ businesses and results of operations.
- Illiquidity of real estate investments and the impact on the company’s ability to respond to adverse changes in property performance.
- Environmental, catastrophic weather, and other natural or man-made disaster risks, including the physical effects of climate change.
- Dependence on access to external capital, the need to refinance debt, and the importance of maintaining compliance with debt covenants.
- Dependence on continued qualification for taxation as a REIT.
These risk discussions appear in forward-looking statement sections of multiple press releases and are cross-referenced to the "Risk Factors" sections of NHI’s Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings.
Regulatory Filings and Governance
National Health Investors files periodic and current reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K. The company uses 8-K filings to report material events such as public offerings of senior notes, changes to board composition, investor presentations, and certain contractual arrangements.
For example, NHI filed an 8-K describing the completion of its senior notes offering and the related indenture, and another 8-K detailing change in control severance agreements with named executive officers. Additional 8-K filings have reported board-related matters, such as a director’s decision not to stand for reelection and a director’s planned retirement, as well as notices to tenants regarding non-compliance with lease provisions.
Lease Relationships and Tenant Matters
In its SEC filings, National Health Investors has described master lease arrangements with tenants operating skilled nursing and independent living facilities. One 8-K filing notes that NHI provided notice of non-compliance to a tenant under a master lease covering multiple skilled nursing and independent living facilities, followed by a notice of default related to certain non-monetary provisions. The filing explains that, under the lease, failure to cure within a specified period may allow NHI to declare an event of default and pursue remedies under the lease.
Other company communications describe transitions of properties from triple-net leases into the SHOP segment, where NHI engages a manager and reports the operations through its taxable REIT subsidiary in a structure designed to comply with the REIT Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act of 2007 (RIDEA).
Dividends and Investor Communications
National Health Investors issues press releases regarding dividends on its common stock, including the declaration and payment dates for quarterly dividends. The company also regularly announces earnings release dates, conference calls, and investor presentations, and makes supplemental information for each quarter available through its investor relations channels.
Forward-looking statements in these communications discuss topics such as expected lease income, funds from operations, capital market transactions, acquisition and investment activity, and assumptions underlying annual guidance ranges. The company emphasizes that many factors affecting its results are beyond its control and refers investors to its SEC filings for detailed risk factors.
Summary
Overall, National Health Investors, Inc. presents itself as a REIT focused on senior housing and medical facility investments, using sale-leasebacks, joint ventures, operating partnerships, and mortgage and mezzanine financing to deploy capital. Its portfolio, as described in company materials, spans independent living, assisted living and memory care, entrance-fee retirement communities, senior living campuses, skilled nursing facilities, and specialty hospitals, with revenues derived from rental income, interest income, and resident fees and services within its two reportable segments: Real Estate Investments and SHOP.