National Healthcare Corp

NHC is a publicly traded corporation listed on the NYSE American under the symbol NHC. It is not structured as a family office, though the Flatt family's multi-decade leadership and the firm's direct real estate ownership pattern create an operational profile that resembles the internalized investment arm of a single-industry family enterprise. The company has never converted to a REIT or outsourced property ownership.

Capital-allocation authority rests with the CEO and the board of directors, with Stephen F. Flatt serving as CEO since 2009. The firm does not employ a separate CIO or external investment committee. Major decisions — facility acquisitions, development projects, joint ventures, and dividend policy — are evaluated within the same executive structure that oversees day-to-day operations, reflecting the firm's view that property decisions are clinical-operational decisions rather than purely financial bets.

NHC owns the majority of its operating properties outright and has historically avoided sale-leaseback transactions, a practice that sets it apart from many nursing-home operators that separated their real estate into REITs during the 2000s and 2010s. The firm also manages facilities for third-party owners. This mixed model gives NHC the control of an owner-operator while generating fee income from management contracts.

NHC's portfolio is concentrated in the southeastern and midwestern United States, with heaviest density in Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri, and Florida. The firm has expanded selectively into adjacent states such as Georgia and Kentucky. Its development and acquisition activity remains focused on secondary and tertiary markets rather than major coastal metros.

Yes. NHC has a history of joint-venture partnerships with regional health systems, forming co-owned skilled-nursing and rehabilitation facilities that serve as post-acute discharge destinations. These partnerships often grant the hospital partner shared governance and a direct stake in referral outcomes, aligning clinical incentives while giving NHC access to patient volume.

NHC has maintained a long record of regular and increasing dividends, funding them from operating cash flow rather than asset sales or debt issuance. The October 2023 dividend increase is the latest in a pattern that signals management's focus on returning capital to shareholders while retaining enough earnings to fund facility-level capex and selective acquisitions — a posture consistent with a conservative, asset-heavy reinvestment model.

NHC maintains a separate real estate subsidiary structure that holds the physical properties, with operating entities paying rent to the property-owning arm — a legal separation that creates asset-level clarity without the economic separation of a true REIT spinoff. This internal structure has historically been used to manage liability, financing, and property-tax considerations while keeping decision-making under common control.