Welltower Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the fourth quarter 2018 World Tower Earnings Conference Call. My name is Nicole, and I will be your operator today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference. If at any time during the call you require assistance, please press star followed by zero, and an operator will be happy to assist you. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. Now I would like to turn the call over to Tim McKee, Vice President of Finance and Investments. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Nicole. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us today to discuss WealthHour's fourth quarter 2018 results. Following the safe harbor, you will hear prepared remarks from Tom DeRosa, CEO, Chak Mitra, CIO, and John Goody, CFO. Before we begin, let me remind you that certain statements made during this conference call may be deemed forward-looking statements in the meaning of the Private Security Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although Welltower believes results projected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, the company can give no assurance that its projected results will be attained. Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are detailed in this morning's press release and from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC. If you did not receive a copy of this morning's press release, you may access it via the company's website at welltower.com. Before I hand the call over to Tom DeRosa, I want to highlight a few significant points regarding our fourth quarter results. Welltower achieved 1.6% total same-store growth in the quarter. We are particularly encouraged by the 40 basis points year-over-year occupancy increase in our senior housing operating portfolio and the sequential coverage increases in both our triple-match senior housing and long-term post-acute portfolios. Fundamental performance in the quarter was consistent with our expectations, partially offset by delayed timing of investment activity and equity issued to pre-fund announced acquisitions. resulting in $1.01 per share of normalized funds from operations. In the fourth quarter, we issued $552 million of equity at a weighted average share price of $68.41.

And with that, I will hand the call to Tom for his remarks this quarter and this year. Tom? Thanks, Tim.