One of the nation’s largest nursing home chains has been on a buying binge of late, and it appears that more is to come.
The Ensign Group announced several acquisitions in the past month, including two Idaho skilled nursing facilities Thursday, a continuing care retirement community in Kansas, an assisted living facility in Nevada, and another in Texas. That brings the Mission Viejo, CA, company’s portfolio to about 240 facilities, 188 of which are SNFs, and officials from the country’s fifth-largest nursing home chain said they’re eyeing more, though at a careful pace.
“Over the last 18 months or so, our local leaders have been sifting through dozens and dozens of acquisition opportunities,” CEO Christopher Christensen read from prepared remarks during a call with investors Thursday. “While our pipeline for additional transactions has never been healthier, and our balance sheet would allow us to do hundreds of millions more in acquisitions, our operational leaders have been extremely picky, and have consummated a small portion of the opportunities.”
Ensign has seen success in its skilled nursing properties in recent months, reporting that it tallied $46.4 million in earnings from the segment this past quarter. That’s an almost 26% uptick when compared to the third quarter of last year, and 7% more than it earned in Q2. Overall occupancy for its skilled facilities ended at 77.3%.
Overall, Ensign — which also has a hand in home health and hospice — reported a net income of $20.9 million in the quarter on revenue of $514 million. That’s up 46.8% over the previous year’s quarter, and beat analyst estimates by $5 million-plus.
