, /PRNewswire/ -- ("Welltower" or the "Company") announced today that it expects to increase its quarterly common stock dividend to per share, beginning with the second quarter of 2024. The declaration and payment of any future dividend remains subject to further review and approval by the Board. "We are pleased to report that our Board of Directors has approved the change in our dividend, reflecting the first increase since 2017.
The approved plan for a 10% increase is indicative of Welltower's solid financial performance, low payout ratio owing to the outsized levels of cash flow growth we have achieved, and the Board's confidence in the Company's strong growth prospects going forward," stated Shankh Mitra, Welltower's Chief Executive Officer. He added, "While the strong secular tailwinds in seniors housing continue to propel our cash flow per share higher, we are also experiencing a once-in-a-generation capital deployment opportunity. We believe our investment pipeline remains robust, visible, and actionable, with an expanding opportunity set across all of our regions and up and down the capital stack.
In fact, this morning we announced that we have closed or are under contract to close nearly of investments year-to-date, which compares to approximately of investment activity in 2023. We have also made significant strides to strengthen our balance sheet, which has never been as strongly positioned as it is today, and expect to maintain significant liquidity and financial f.