Camden Property Trust Stock: CPT Dividend vs Core FFO, 2026

The dividend against FFO, Core FFO and Core AFFO, six quarters

Camden reports three measures per share. FFO is the industry (Nareit) definition. Core FFO removes items the company treats as non-core, such as legal costs and settlements, casualty-related items, expensed transaction pursuit costs and investment losses. Core AFFO takes Core FFO and subtracts recurring capitalized expenditures, the spending to maintain the communities. The company’s own payout ratio in its supplement divides the dividend by FFO; the two Core columns are our arithmetic.

The Core FFO ratio barely moved, and the Core AFFO ratio did. Core FFO per share was $1.72 in Q1 2025 and $1.68 in Q2 2026, so the dividend, up one cent, went from 61.0% to 63.1% of it. Core AFFO per share fell more, from $1.58 to $1.39, because Core FFO fell and recurring capital spending did not: it was $30.1 million in Q2 2026 against $30.0 million a year earlier. The Q2 2026 Core AFFO payout of 76.3% is the highest of the six quarters (our arithmetic). The first quarter of each year is seasonally light on capital spending, which is why Q1 2025 and Q1 2026 look better than the quarters around them.

FFO and EPS tell different stories in 2026 because of two one-offs. Q1 2026 FFO of $1.15 includes about $0.48 a share of litigation-related charges, the RealPage settlement; EPS includes a $0.64 gain on selling a 516-home community in Irving, Texas for $77.0 million. Core FFO removes the first and FFO removes the second. The company’s 2026 EPS guidance of $9.76 to $10.10 is almost entirely the gain on the California sale, which the filing puts at $9.68 to $9.88 a share, about $1.0 billion at 103.6 million weighted shares (our arithmetic).

Illustration at company-reported prices. The filings do not give today’s price. The supplements give the share price at each quarter end: $122.30 at March 31, 2025, $97.66 at March 31, 2026 and $114.49 at June 30, 2026. The annual dividend at those prices is a yield of 3.43%, 4.34% and 3.70% (our arithmetic: $4.20, $4.24 and $4.24 divided by the price). These are quarter-end illustrations, not quotes.

Fewer shares, more debt: the buyback and where the cash came from

Camden did not buy back stock in the first half of 2025 and then did so heavily from the second half. The 10-K says it repurchased 2,531,018 shares in 2025 at an average $106.92 ($270.7 million). In February 2026 the board approved a new $600.0 million plan that replaced the old one, and the 10-Q shows the 2026 purchases by period:

The $114.49 June 30 price is 10.0% above the 2026 average cost of $104.08 (our arithmetic). The buying stopped after April. Camden also renewed its at-the-market share sale program on April 28, 2026, up to $500.0 million, which lets it issue shares as well as buy them; the 10-Q says the full $500.0 million remained available at the filing date.

Cash flow shows how it was funded. In the first six months of 2026 operating cash flow was $359.7 million. Out of that and borrowings, Camden paid $227.1 million of distributions (63.1% of operating cash flow), $433.0 million to repurchase shares, $446.5 million to acquire communities and $239.9 million on development and capital improvements (our arithmetic on the 10-Q cash flow statement). It raised $595.7 million from the February notes, drew a net $357.0 million on the revolver, and received $76.7 million from the Irving sale. So distributions plus buybacks were 183.5% of operating cash flow (our arithmetic), a position that can be funded for a year or two with debt and a property sale, and is not something the Core FFO ratio shows.

Debt: 5.3 times, a lot of floating-rate paper, and the California proceeds

Net debt in the company’s ratio is the average monthly balance of debt less average cash, and EBITDAre is annualized from the quarter. Total debt was 26.7% higher than a year earlier while adjusted EBITDAre fell 2.6% in the quarter to $221.5 million from $227.4 million (our arithmetic). The 10-Q gives the maturity ladder at June 30, 2026, including all available extension options:

The remainder of 2026 and 2027 together are 27.3% of the debt (our arithmetic). The commercial paper is backstopped by the revolver, which is why the June 30 liquidity figure is $287.4 million (cash of $44.7 million plus $242.7 million of availability) although the revolver itself had $842.7 million of room: the $600.0 million of commercial paper uses up most of it. After quarter end Camden entered a $350 million 364-day term loan on July 8, maturing July 2027.

What the California proceeds do. The release says about $0.9 billion of the $1.625 billion will retire revolver and commercial paper balances. If only that happened, June 30 debt of $4,848.3 million would fall to about $3,948 million (our arithmetic), and dividing by June annualized adjusted EBITDAre less the annualized California NOI gives roughly 5.0 times on a gross basis (our arithmetic, a rough illustration: the company’s ratio uses average balances and ignores the term loan and acquisitions since June 30). The third-quarter supplement will show the real figure.

The California sale: what went out, what came in

The two sides have the same ratio of annual rental rate to price, 7.65% each (our arithmetic; the monthly rental rate is the company’s rate for leases in place and vacant homes after concessions and before vacancy and bad debt, not collected rent). What differs is the market and the age: California homes sold were built in 2007 on average and rent at $2,862; the homes bought were built in 2021 and rent at $1,997. The acquisitions include Camden Alpharetta ($89.0 million, 269 homes, Georgia), Camden Roanoke ($99.1 million, 349 homes, Texas), Camden Gilbert ($124.6 million, 320 homes, Arizona) and Camden LoSo ($114.0 million, 343 homes, Charlotte). Camden also bought two land parcels for $45.0 million and has 1,162 homes under construction at an estimated cost of $492.0 million, with $140.1 million left to fund.

The portfolio after the sale is 167 properties with 56,695 homes (July 30 release) and, in the September 8 update, 168 properties with 56,995 homes. That September 8 press release says third-quarter performance to date “is in line with guidance and expectations provided in conjunction with its second quarter 2026 earnings release.”

Same property results and lease pricing, six quarters

Each row is as first reported, and the same property pool is redefined every year (and, in Q2 2026, excluded California), so rows are close to but not exactly comparable. Same property NOI has been flat or negative for four straight quarters, and expenses have grown faster than revenues in each of the last five. New-lease rents were still 3.3% lower in Q2 2026, a smaller decline than the 5.2% to 5.3% of the two previous quarters, and renewals were 2.8% higher. Net turnover was 39% annualized in both Q2 2026 and Q2 2025.

Market by market: where the Q2 NOI moved

The table is from the Q2 2026 supplement. It covers the 50,485 same property homes outside California; the share of NOI is as published.

Camden is not only a Sun Belt landlord: the Washington, D.C. metro area is its largest market at 16.1% of same property NOI, and Denver is 6.3%. The weakest NOI came from Nashville (minus 12.0%), Raleigh (minus 8.0%) and Denver (minus 7.5%); in Raleigh and Nashville the cause is expenses (up 15.9% and 24.6%), not revenue (minus 0.1% and minus 1.2%) (our reading of the table). Orlando was the best large market at plus 3.1%, on expenses down 6.3%. Atlanta’s expenses rose 7.7%, which is why a 1.3% revenue gain became a 2.6% NOI decline.

Guidance: the same $6.75, and the 2025 pattern

In 2025 Camden raised its midpoint at each of the first three updates and then beat the last one, ending at $6.88. In 2026 the midpoint has not moved in three versions, and the Q1 release said Core FFO beat its own guidance by $0.04 while the Q2 release said $0.01. For the second half, the first half was $3.39, Q3 is guided at $1.67 to $1.71 ($1.69 midpoint) and Q4 therefore needs about $1.67 at the midpoints (our arithmetic). The release also states that the RealPage settlement does not affect 2026 Core FFO or Core AFFO.

The $53.0 million RealPage settlement and the management changes

On April 7, 2026 Camden signed a binding term sheet to settle the class action over RealPage revenue management software, and the definitive agreement is dated May 8, 2026. It pays $53.0 million in two equal installments of $26.5 million, inclusive of class recovery, plaintiffs’ counsel fees and administration costs; the first was paid in Q2 2026 and the second is due in Q3. The 8-K says the term sheet “does not constitute an admission by the Company of any fault or liability,” and the court gave preliminary approval during the second quarter. Legal costs and settlements of $51.6 million in the first half sit between FFO and Core FFO (FFO of $2.82 against Core FFO of $3.39).

Management changed in 2026. Effective March 24, 2026, Richard J. Campo became Executive Chairman, Alexander J. Jessett became Chief Executive Officer and was appointed to the board, Laurie A. Baker became President and Chief Operating Officer and Benjamin D. Fraker became Chief Financial Officer. A new Chief Accounting Officer took over on July 2, and D. Keith Oden retired as Executive Vice Chairman on August 31, 2026 and stays on the board. Camden also filed a Form 8-A on December 18, 2025 and its 2026 8-K covers list NYSE Texas.

What comes next

Camden said on October 7, 2026 that it will release third-quarter results after the market closes on Thursday, November 5, 2026, with a call on Friday, November 6 at 10:00 a.m. Central (a Business Wire press release, not an SEC filing, read through a mirror). As of October 19, 2026 the 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30 is not filed; the June 30 10-Q was filed on July 31, one day after the earnings 8-K, so a Q3 10-Q around November 6 would follow the same pattern (our reading). The items in that report that settle this page: Core FFO and Core AFFO against the $1.67 to $1.71 guide; total debt and net debt to EBITDAre after the California proceeds; whether the quarterly dividend stays at $1.06; the share count and whether buybacks resumed after April; and the second RealPage installment. No filing we read declares a special dividend.

How Camden compares with MAA and UDR

Our pages on Mid-America Apartment Communities and UDR use the same method. Each company defines its own FFO measure, so the rows are comparable in shape, not exactly in definition.

Camden has the lowest FFO payout of the three, the weakest same property NOI growth and a leverage figure close to UDR’s. Camden and MAA each agreed to pay $53.0 million to settle the same RealPage class action. For other listed residential landlords see Equity Residential.

What a holder or reader can do with this

This page is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. What the filings let you check yourself:

• Pick one coverage measure and keep it. Dividend over Core FFO is 63.1%, over Core AFFO 76.3%. Core AFFO went from 66.5% to 76.3% in six quarters (our arithmetic); a reader who quotes only the first ratio will not see it.
• Separate per-share from total. Core FFO per share fell 1.2% in Q2 while Core FFO in dollars fell 6.7% (our arithmetic). The difference is 6.6 million fewer shares since Q1 2025, bought with cash and debt.
• Watch leverage after the sale. Net debt to EBITDAre was 5.3 times on June 30 and the company says about $0.9 billion of debt will be repaid. Ask what remains: commercial paper, the $350 million term loan and the 2026 maturities.
• Check what Core FFO leaves out. The $53.0 million settlement is real cash in 2026 and is not in Core FFO; compare it with the cash flow statement.
• Read the sale by price, not headline. $1.625 billion at a 5.6% NOI yield replaced 3,620 coastal homes with 2,061 Sun Belt ones at a lower price per home (our arithmetic). Whether that is a good trade depends on rent growth the filings cannot show.
• Use it as a benchmark for private apartment vehicles. If you own a non-traded or private apartment fund, ask it for the same figures: distribution over FFO and over AFFO, net debt to EBITDA, new versus renewal rent change, maturities and buybacks or redemptions. Our comparison of non-traded and publicly traded REITs and our Blackstone BREIT review cover the private side.

FAQ

All figures are from Camden Property Trust (SEC CIK 906345) filings and the EDGAR filing list read on October 19, 2026: Form 10-K for 2025 (accession 0001628280-26-007697); Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2026 (0001628280-26-029188) and June 30, 2026 (0001628280-26-051327); earnings releases and supplemental data attached to Forms 8-K for Q4 2024 (0000906345-25-000003), Q1 2025 (0000906345-25-000022), Q2 2025 (0000906345-25-000031), Q3 2025 (0001628280-25-050242), Q4 2025 (0001628280-26-005842), Q1 2026 (0001628280-26-028942) and Q2 2026 (0001628280-26-051083); Forms 8-K filed February 19, March 19, March 27, April 9, April 30, June 11, August 3 and August 31, 2026; and the February 18, 2026 prospectus supplement for the 4.900% notes due 2036 (0001193125-26-057496). The Q3 results date comes from a Business Wire press release of October 7, 2026 and the September 8, 2026 operating update from Camden’s investor site, neither an SEC filing. Peer figures are from our MAA and UDR pages. Ratios marked (our arithmetic) are ours. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.