EQUITY

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Equity [Abstract]

EQUITY

EQUITY

Common Stock

At-The-Market Offering—On August 29, 2024, the Company entered into a new equity distribution agreement to issue and sell, from time to time, up to $750.0 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 (together, with all previous at-the-market equity offering programs, the “Previous ATM Programs” 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 nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands, except per share amounts):

	For the Three Months Ended				For the Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2024		September 30, 2023		September 30, 2024		September 30, 2023
Number of shares	17,241		16,285		40,986		16,285
Average sales price per share	$	29.01	$	19.89	$	26.35	$	19.89
Gross proceeds(1)	$	500,085	$	323,886	$	1,079,852	$	323,886

(1) Total gross proceeds is before $6.2 million and $4.0 million of commissions paid to the sales agents and forward adjustments during the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, under the ATM Program. Total gross proceeds is before $13.4 million and $4.0 million of commissions paid to the sales agents and forward adjustments during the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, under the ATM Program.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company entered into ATM forward contracts under the ATM Program with a financial institution acting as a forward purchaser to sell 9,058,140 and 15,794,229 shares of common stock, respectively, at a weighted average initial sales price of $19.99 and $19.87 per share, respectively, before commissions and offering expenses. During the three months ended September 30, 2023, the Company settled 10,893,229 shares outstanding under the ATM forward contracts at a weighted average sales price of $19.57 for net proceeds of $213.1 million. No forward equity sales were executed or settled under the ATM Program during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, and there were no outstanding ATM forward contracts that had not settled as of September 30, 2024.

As of September 30, 2024, the Company had $440.1 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 nine months of 2024 (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts):

	For the Three Months Ended
	March 31, 2024		June 30, 2024		September 30, 2024
Dividends declared per share	$	0.29	$	0.29	$	0.29
Dividends payment date	April 15, 2024		July 15, 2024		October 15, 2024
Dividends payable as of record date	$	41,192	$	44,721	$	49,721
Dividends record date	March 28, 2024		June 28, 2024		September 30, 2024