EQUITY

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2024

Equity [Abstract]

EQUITY

EQUITY

Common Stock

At-The-Market Offering—On May 6, 2024, the Company entered into a new equity distribution agreement to issue and sell, from time to time, up to $500.0 million in aggregate offering price of its common stock through an “at-the-market” equity offering program (the “New ATM Program”) and terminated its previous $500.0 million “at-the-market” equity offering program (the “Previous ATM Program” and together with the New ATM Program, the “ATM Program”). In addition to the issuance and sale of shares of its common stock, the ATM Program also provides for the ability to enter into one or more forward sales agreements (each, an “ATM forward contract”) with sales agents for the sale of the Company’s shares of common stock under the ATM Program.

In the event the Company enters into an ATM forward contract to sell shares of common stock pursuant to the ATM Program, the Company would expect to fully physically settle forward equity sales by delivery of shares of common stock to the forward purchaser and receive cash proceeds upon one or more settlement dates, which are typically a one-year term, at the Company’s discretion, prior to the final settlement date, at which time the Company would expect to receive aggregate net cash proceeds at settlement equal to the number of shares sold on a forward basis multiplied by the relevant forward price per share. The weighted average forward sale price that the Company would expect to receive upon physical settlement would be subject to adjustment for (i) a floating interest rate factor equal to a specified daily rate less a spread, (ii) the forward purchaser’s stock borrowing costs and (iii) scheduled dividends through the settlement.

The following table summarizes the ATM Program activity for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 (in thousands, except per share amounts):

	For the Three Months Ended		For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2024		June 30, 2024
Number of shares	12,145		23,745
Average sales price per share	$	25.24	$	24.42
Gross proceeds(1)	$	306,534	$	579,767

(1) Total gross proceeds is before $3.8 million and $7.2 million of commissions paid to the sales agents during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, respectively, under the ATM Program.

During the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company executed forward equity sales under the ATM Program with a financial institution acting as a forward purchaser to sell 6,736,089 shares of common stock at a weighted average sales price of $19.71 per share before commissions and offering expenses. The Company did not receive any proceeds from the sales of its shares of common stock by the forward sellers. As of June 30, 2023, the Company had not settled any portion of these forward equity sales. No forward equity sales were executed or settled under the ATM Program during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, and there were no outstanding ATM forward contracts that had not settled as of June 30, 2024.

As of June 30, 2024, the Company had $193.5 million available for future issuances under the New ATM Program.

Dividends on Common Stock—The following table summarizes the cash dividends per share of common stock declared by the Company’s board of directors for the first six months of 2024 (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts):

	For the Three Months Ended
	March 31, 2024		June 30, 2024
Dividends declared per share	$	0.29	$	0.29
Dividends payment date	April 15, 2024		July 15, 2024
Dividends payable as of record date	$	41,192	$	44,721
Dividends record date	March 28, 2024		June 28, 2024