One of the world’s largest operators of life sciences properties has slashed its quarterly dividend by 45% as it weathers a major downturn in the industry.
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On Wednesday, Alexandria Real Estate Equities declared a quarterly cash dividend of 72 cents per common share for the fourth quarter. That represents a 60-cent drop from the REIT’s previous dividend price, which has been $1.32 per share since Q4 2024.
The last time Alexandria declared a quarterly dividend under a dollar per share was September 2019, and the last time its quarterly dividend was 72 cents per share was September 2014, according to the database DivvyDiary.
Since Wednesday morning’s announcement, shares of Alexandria fell more than $5, or about 10%, by 3 p.m. ET.
The dividend reduction comes as Alexandria faces major headwinds. In October, the REIT reported a third-quarter loss of nearly $235M, which more than doubled its Q2 losses.
The firm tallied a 5% reduction in its portfolio occupancy, lowering occupancy to 90.6% at the end of the third quarter. Alexandria also revised its annual income outlook to a loss of $2.94 per share in 2025, down from the 50-cent-per-share gain the firm previously predicted.
National demand for lab space remained anemic in Q3, with net absorption shrinking by 1.3M SF, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Weak demand also led to asking rents hitting $66.35 per SF, a 4.4% decrease over the same period in 2024.
Developers have pulled back on new construction as a result of the industry slowdown, with speculative construction making up only 47% of the development pipeline in Q3, down 66% from a year earlier, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Alexandria executives previously said the firm is following suit, reevaluating its $4.2B development pipeline and possibly pausing some projects in the first half of 2026.
“We’ve had two reasonable quarters of leasing, but that doesn't reflect the underlying health of the industry,” Alexandria Chairman Joel Marcus told analysts on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. “I’ve tried to articulate that you need a number of pieces in place for a fulsome rebound to happen.”
Alexandria is also facing a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
In the suit, a shareholder named Warren Hern accused the firm’s executives of making “false and/or materially misleading” statements about leasing demand for its 179K SF Long Island City property that had been converted into lab space in 2012. Despite previous optimistic reports on leasing prospects at the property, Alexandria recently wrote down $206M in impairment charges on it.
