Physicians Realty Trust (DOC): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

When you look at Physicians Realty Trust (DOC), are you seeing a standalone healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) or a new market titan? The reality is that the legacy of Physicians Realty Trust, which was valued at approximately $21 billion in its merger with Healthpeak Properties, now anchors a powerhouse platform that controls a massive 52 million square-foot portfolio, making it a dominant force in healthcare delivery real estate. This strategic combination, completed in early 2024, is already delivering substantial financial benefits, with the combined entity surpassing synergy targets to expect over $65 million in total run-rate synergies by the end of 2025, so understanding its history and business model is defintely crucial for any investor. How does a company that focused on medical office buildings evolve into a diversified leader projecting a 3% to 4% rise in same-store Net Operating Income (NOI) for 2025, and what does that mean for your portfolio?

Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) History

You need to understand the history of Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) not just as a standalone company, but as a critical component of the newly formed healthcare real estate giant. The company's trajectory was defined by a rapid, focused growth strategy in medical office buildings (MOBs) that culminated in a massive, value-creating merger in 2024. That merger is the story.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The company was established in 2013, launching with a clear focus on acquiring and managing high-quality, strategic outpatient medical facilities.

Original location

Physicians Realty Trust was originally headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a location that served as its base for a decade of growth.

Founding team members

The company was co-founded by John T. Thomas, who served as President and CEO, and Mark D. Theine, who was the Executive Vice President of Asset Management.

Initial capital/funding

The initial capital was secured through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on July 19, 2013, which successfully grossed $135 million.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The single most transformative moment was the all-stock merger with Healthpeak Properties, Inc. (PEAK), which closed on March 1, 2024. This transaction was not just an acquisition; it was a merger of equals that fundamentally reshaped the medical and life sciences real estate landscape, with the combined entity retaining the Physicians Realty Trust ticker, DOC.

• Created a $21 Billion Platform: The merger created a combined enterprise valued at roughly $21 billion, making it a dominant force in the sector.
• Shifted Portfolio Focus: The combined portfolio totals 52 million square feet, with 40 million square feet dedicated to outpatient medical properties, deepening the focus on healthcare delivery.
• Generated Significant Synergies: Management projected the merger would generate $40 million in synergies during 2024, with potential for an additional $20 million or more by the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
• New Dividend and Ticker: The combined company is projected to pay an annualized dividend of $1.20 per share, and it trades under the legacy ticker DOC.

This strategic move was about creating a more diversified, creditworthy tenant roster and a greater competitive advantage in high-growth markets like Dallas, Denver, and Phoenix. For a deeper dive into who is now investing in the merged entity, you should read Exploring Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Here's the quick math on the financial impact: the combined company reported Q3 Funds From Operations (FFO) of $0.46 per share, which beat analyst estimates of $0.45 per share, showing the integration is defintely on track for 2025 performance.

Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Ownership Structure

The company formerly known as Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) no longer exists as an independent entity; it completed a massive all-stock merger with Healthpeak Properties, Inc. on March 1, 2024. The combined, publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is now named Healthpeak Properties, Inc. and trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol DOC. This transaction, valued at approximately $21 billion, created a leading healthcare real estate platform focused on both medical office buildings (MOBs) and life science properties.

Given Company's Current Status

As of November 2025, the company operates as Healthpeak Properties, Inc., a major REIT with a portfolio spanning approximately 52 million square feet of healthcare discovery and delivery real estate. The integration of the two companies is complete, and the firm is focused on realizing the full financial benefit, which includes expected total merger synergies of north of $65 million by year-end 2025. The shift to a larger, diversified platform gives the company greater capacity for accretive investments and strategic growth. You can get a detailed view of its performance here: Breaking Down Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The ownership of the combined entity, Healthpeak Properties, Inc. (DOC), is heavily concentrated among institutional investors, which is typical for a large, publicly traded REIT. This structure ensures stability but means individual investors have minimal direct influence on corporate governance matters. Former Healthpeak shareholders own approximately 77% of the combined company, while former Physicians Realty Trust shareholders own the remaining 23%. Here's a look at the shareholder breakdown as of late 2025:

Honestly, when institutional ownership is over 90%, those large funds dictate the vote on most proposals. The institutional holding is defintely the primary force driving the stock's stability and trading volume.

Given Company's Leadership

The leadership team for the combined Healthpeak Properties, Inc. (DOC) is a blend of executives from both legacy companies, ensuring continuity and expertise across the expanded portfolio of life science and outpatient medical assets. The Board of Directors expanded to 13 members, incorporating five former Physicians Realty Trust directors to integrate their deep knowledge of medical office properties.

• Scott M. Brinker: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He leads the combined entity, steering its strategic focus on healthcare discovery and delivery real estate.
• Katherine M. Sandstrom: Chair of the Board. She provides oversight and governance, having led the Healthpeak board prior to the merger.
• John T. Thomas: Vice Chair of the Board. As the former President and CEO of Physicians Realty Trust, he plays an active role in strategy, relationships, and business development, leveraging his extensive industry network.
• Kelvin O. Moses: Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Appointed in 2025, he manages the financial strategy and capital structure of the $21 billion combined company.
• Adam G. Mabry: Chief Investment Officer (CIO). He directs capital allocation and portfolio construction, focusing on high-growth markets like Dallas, Houston, and Denver.

This leadership structure is designed to capitalize on the strengths of both platforms, combining Healthpeak's focus on life sciences with the former Physicians Realty Trust's expertise in medical office buildings. The former Physicians Realty Trust CEO, John Thomas, is now Vice Chair, which is a clear signal that his relationships remain crucial to the company's strategy.

Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Mission and Values

The core purpose of Physicians Realty Trust, now operating as Healthpeak Properties, Inc. under the DOC ticker, is to serve as the leading real estate platform for both healthcare discovery and delivery. This mission is grounded in the 'WE CARE' values, which drive the company's strategy to generate superior returns by enabling high-quality patient care and medical innovation.

Given Company's Core Purpose

The company's cultural DNA is a blend of the long-term, stable focus of Physicians Realty Trust and the expanded, growth-oriented platform of Healthpeak Properties, Inc. The goal is simple: own and manage the mission-critical real estate that underpins the future of US healthcare.

This focus is evident in the combined portfolio, which is a massive 52-million-square-foot platform, with 40 million square feet dedicated to outpatient medical properties. For 2025, the synergy target is high, expecting to realize $20 million or more of additional merger-related savings. That's a defintely clear action plan.

Official mission statement

The mission is to be the pre-eminent owner, operator, and developer of real estate for healthcare discovery and delivery, leveraging increased scale and deep industry relationships to create immediate and future value for shareholders. Essentially, they want to be the best real estate partner for the top health systems and life science innovators.

The foundation of this mission is built on a set of core values, defined in early 2024 for the combined entity, which they call 'WE CARE.' This framework guides everything from capital allocation to tenant relations:

• Winning mindset: Drive growth and create value.
• Empower the team: Trust and support employees.
• Collaborate and communicate: Work openly with partners.
• Act with integrity: Maintain the highest ethical standards.
• Respect the relationship: Prioritize long-term partnerships.
• Excellence in execution: Deliver results consistently.

Vision statement

The vision is a future where the company's real estate portfolio is strategically positioned to benefit from the ongoing shift of healthcare delivery to lower-cost, more convenient outpatient settings. This means focusing on assets in high-growth markets like Dallas, Houston, and Nashville.

A key part of this vision is operational control. As a clear action, the company is planning to internalize property management for an additional 14 million square feet in 2025 and beyond, bringing more of the tenant relationship in-house. This move helps ensure superior customer service and better control over operating expenses, which ultimately translates to more stable cash flow for you, the investor.

For more detail on the cultural alignment post-merger, you can review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Physicians Realty Trust (DOC).

Given Company slogan/tagline

The original, foundational tagline that captured the pre-merger spirit of Physicians Realty Trust was:

• Invest in better®

This idea of investing in better health care, better communities, and better returns remains the underlying promise of the combined company, even as the scale has increased dramatically to a $21 billion enterprise.

Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) How It Works

Physicians Realty Trust (DOC), now operating as Healthpeak Properties following the March 2024 merger, functions as a specialized real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates, and develops critical infrastructure for the entire healthcare ecosystem. The company generates revenue by leasing high-quality medical office buildings and life science research facilities to leading health systems, physician groups, and biopharma companies on long-term net leases, essentially being the landlord for healthcare discovery and delivery.

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

Given Company's Operational Framework

The company's operational framework is built on a vertically integrated platform, a key strength brought over from the legacy Physicians Realty Trust, which allows for internal property management, leasing, and asset management across its vast portfolio. This integration drives efficiency and better tenant relationships.

Here's the quick math on merger benefits: the company is on track to realize total merger-related synergies of north of $65 million by year-end 2025, surpassing its initial targets. This is achieved by streamlining corporate functions and internalizing property management across nearly 20 million square feet in 2024, with another 14 million square feet planned for 2025 and beyond.

• Focus on core markets: Concentrating capital allocation in key high-growth U.S. markets like Phoenix, Denver, and Houston.
• Internalize property management: Shifts control from third-party vendors to in-house teams, cutting costs and improving service quality.
• Recycle capital: Selling non-core or older assets to fund new, accretive investments, especially in the growing life sciences sector.
• Maintain strong balance sheet: Targeting a pro forma net debt to EBITDAre (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization, and Real Estate) in the low 5x range.

If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk defintely rises, so having an internal team managing the process is a competitive edge.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

The combined entity's primary strategic advantage is its massive scale and its deep, diversified relationships across the healthcare spectrum, creating a formidable barrier to entry for competitors.

• Transformative Scale: The merger created a differentiated platform with a 52 million square foot portfolio, making it one of the largest owners of outpatient medical properties in the U.S..
• Unmatched Relationships: The company now has affiliations with each of the 10 largest health systems in the United States. This network provides a consistent pipeline for future development and acquisition opportunities.
• Financial Resilience: The portfolio is anchored by stable cash flows, with 7 out of the top 10 tenants being investment-grade rated. This stability helps keep the dividend reliable, which is crucial for a REIT.
• Strong Financial Performance: The company reported Q3 2025 Funds From Operations (FFO) of $0.46 per share, which beat consensus estimates. This shows the merger is already delivering measurable results on the bottom line.

Also, the legacy Physicians Realty Trust portfolio brought newer assets with longer weighted average lease terms (WALTs) and a higher percentage of investment-grade tenants, which should result in lower capital expenditures (CapEx) than industry averages. You can dive deeper into the financial metrics here: Breaking Down Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) How It Makes Money

The company, now operating as Healthpeak Properties, Inc. (DOC) following the March 2024 merger with Physicians Realty Trust, primarily makes money by collecting rent from its diversified portfolio of healthcare and life science real estate. This revenue is generated through long-term leases, predominantly from its massive Outpatient Medical segment-the former core of Physicians Realty Trust-and its Life Science and Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) properties.

You're looking at a pure-play real estate investment trust (REIT) model, so the financial engine is straightforward: acquire, lease, and manage specialized properties to generate predictable, contractually obligated rental income. It's about owning the best buildings in the most critical sectors of healthcare delivery and discovery.

Healthpeak Properties, Inc. (DOC)'s Revenue Breakdown

As of the third quarter of 2025, Healthpeak Properties, Inc. reported total revenue of $705.87 million, with the vast majority coming from rental income across its three core segments. This breakdown shows how the former Physicians Realty Trust's focus on medical offices has been integrated into a larger, more diversified revenue base.

Business Economics

The core of Healthpeak Properties, Inc.'s business model, particularly in the Outpatient Medical segment that was Physicians Realty Trust, relies on favorable lease structures and strong demand fundamentals. This is where the precision of a seasoned analyst comes into play, as the devil is in the details of the lease contracts.

• Lease Structure: The company primarily uses triple-net leases (NNN), where the tenant-the physician group or health system-pays for property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs in addition to rent. This structure minimizes the landlord's (Healthpeak's) operating expense risk.
• Pricing Power: Outpatient Medical demand is defintely growing faster than new supply, which gives the company significant pricing power. This is evident in the Q3 2025 cash re-leasing spreads, which were strong at +5.4%.
• Annual Escalators: New leases signed in Q3 2025 included higher annual rent escalators of +3%, a slight increase compared to the +2.7% on the existing portfolio. This contractual growth provides a reliable, built-in inflation hedge for rental income.
• Cost Efficiency: Tenant improvement outlays (the money spent to customize a space for a new tenant) on renewals were low, representing less than 5% of rent in Q3 2025. Low capital expenditure (CapEx) needs translate directly into higher Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO).
• Segment Performance: The Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) portfolio is a significant growth driver, with Cash Net Operating Income (NOI) increasing by 9.4% in Q3 2025, fueled by strong pricing power and occupancy gains.

Here's the quick math: higher contractual rent increases plus lower capital outlays equals a more predictable and growing cash flow stream. This is the bedrock of a stable REIT dividend.

Healthpeak Properties, Inc. (DOC)'s Financial Performance

The merger has created a larger, more financially flexible entity, and the 2025 results show the immediate impact of this scale. The key metrics for a REIT are not Net Income, but Funds From Operations (FFO) and Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO), which strip out non-cash items like depreciation.

• Funds From Operations (FFO): For Q3 2025, the company reported FFO as Adjusted of $0.46 per share. This operational metric is on track with the company's reaffirmed full-year 2025 FFO guidance range of $1.81 to $1.87 per share.
• Same-Store NOI Growth: This metric, which measures the performance of properties owned for the entire period, is a crucial indicator of organic health. The total merger-combined Same-Store Cash (Adjusted) NOI growth for the full year 2025 is guided to be between 3.0% and 4.0%. The Outpatient Medical segment itself saw a 2.0% same-store NOI increase in Q3 2025.
• Balance Sheet & Liquidity: Healthpeak Properties, Inc. maintains a strong balance sheet with a Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDAre ratio of 5.3x as of Q3 2025. The company has approximately $2.7 billion in available liquidity, providing significant flexibility for new investments or debt management.
• Merger Synergies: The integration of Physicians Realty Trust is complete and highly successful, with the company now expecting total merger-related synergies of north of $65 million by the end of 2025, exceeding initial targets.
• Dividend Stability: The company declared a monthly cash dividend of $0.10167 per share for the fourth quarter of 2025, which is well-covered with a year-to-date AFFO payout ratio of 71%.

What this estimate hides is the drag from the Lab segment, which saw a Same-Store NOI decline of -3.2% in Q3 2025, but management is focused on capitalizing on the strong Outpatient Medical demand to offset this. For a deeper dive into who is investing in this combined entity, you should check out Exploring Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Market Position & Future Outlook

The Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) ticker now represents Healthpeak Properties following the $21 billion all-stock merger that closed in March 2024, creating a diversified leader focused on healthcare discovery and delivery. This combined entity is strategically positioned to capture growth from the aging US population, leveraging its massive portfolio of outpatient medical buildings and life science campuses.

You should see the company's near-term trajectory anchored by the successful integration of Physicians Realty Trust, with management focused on capital recycling and accretive development, which is defintely a smart move in this environment.

Competitive Landscape

In the highly specialized healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) sector, Healthpeak Properties (DOC) competes directly with other large-cap, diversified and specialized REITs. The merger with Physicians Realty Trust solidified its position as a top-tier player, particularly in the outpatient medical sector, but it remains smaller than the largest diversified competitor by enterprise value.

Here's the quick math on the relative size of the top three, based on Enterprise Value (EV) or Market Capitalization (MC) as of late 2025, which gives you a clear picture of the market concentration:

Opportunities & Challenges

The company is capitalizing on two major demographic and policy tailwinds: the accelerating shift to lower-cost outpatient care and the persistent demand for life science research space. The biggest near-term action is optimizing the balance sheet.

Industry Position

Healthpeak Properties (DOC) is a leading diversified healthcare REIT, distinguished by its strategic focus on two high-growth, high-barrier-to-entry sectors: medical office buildings (MOBs) and life science real estate (LSRE). The combined portfolio totals approximately 52 million square feet, with 40 million square feet dedicated to outpatient medical properties.

The company's full-year 2025 FFO (Funds From Operations) as Adjusted guidance is a solid $1.81 to $1.87 per share, reflecting confidence in its core business performance and synergy realization. This performance is underpinned by recent leasing strength, including cash releasing spreads of +5.4% on outpatient medical renewals in Q3 2025.

• Owns the largest portfolio of on-campus and affiliated Class A medical office buildings in the US.
• Maintains affiliations with each of the 10 largest US health systems, providing stable cash flow.
• The Senior Housing Operating Portfolio (CCRC) is experiencing a powerful recovery, with same-store NOI up 17.4% in Q1 2025. [cite: 9 (from step 1), 5]
• Its enterprise value of approximately $22.31 billion positions it as a major force, though behind Ventas, in the overall healthcare REIT landscape.

For a detailed breakdown of the company's financial metrics and balance sheet strength, you can read our full analysis: Breaking Down Physicians Realty Trust (DOC) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

Next Step: Investment team: model the impact of a $1 billion asset sale on the 2026 debt maturity schedule by month-end.