PECO Expands Northwestern Mutual Venture and Raises 2026 Acquisition Outlook

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) shares traded higher Friday after the REIT expanded its joint venture with Northwestern Mutual, raised its 2026 acquisition outlook, and reaffirmed full-year earnings guidance.Northwestern Mutual Venture ExpandsPECO expanded its joint venture with Northwestern Mutual, which will acquire 13 PECO-owned grocery-anchored shopping centers across eight states for about $377.5 million.Northwestern Mutual will own roughly 86% of the venture, while PECO will retain about 14% and continue earning management fees.PECO plans to redeploy the proceeds into grocery-anchored and Everyday Retail properties, along with development and redevelopment projects.The partnership was extended through 2036. PECO expects the joint venture portfolio to exceed 40 shopping centers across 17 states and about $1.2 billion in assets under management.CEO Jeff Edison said the venture “advances PECO’s capital allocation strategy by monetizing value from high-quality, stabilized assets and redeploying that capital into grocery-anchored and Everyday Retail™ opportunities with strong growth potential.”PECO Raises Acquisition Outlook, Reaffirms GuidancePECO raised its 2026 gross acquisitions outlook to $600 million to $700 million from $500 million to $600 million. Through Sept. 30, the company had acquired $459.7 million of assets at its prorated share.The company also increased expected dispositions to $200 million to $250 million from $100 million to $200 million and guided for $200 million to $250 million in net joint venture contributions.PECO reaffirmed diluted net income guidance of 95 cents to 97 cents per share, Nareit FFO of $2.67 to $2.72 and Core FFO of $2.73 to $2.79.At the midpoint, Nareit FFO and Core FFO are expected to grow 6.3% and 6.2% year over year, respectively, while same-center NOI growth guidance remains 3.4% to 4.0%.PECO Technical OutlookAt $37.70, PECO stock is trading near its 20-day SMA of $37.80 but remains below its 50-day SMA of $39.45, 100-day SMA of $40.37, and 200-day SMA of $38.96.The 20-day SMA also remains below the 50-day average, keeping the near-term trend cautious.RSI stands at 46.36, signaling neutral momentum rather than overbought or oversold conditions.Key resistance sits near $40.50, while support is around $36.50.Earnings and Analyst OutlookPECO is scheduled to report earnings on Oct. 26, 2026. Analysts expect EPS of 69 cents, compared with 20 cents a year earlier, on revenue of $192.15 million, up from $182.67 million.The stock carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $43.63.Recent analyst actions include Barclays maintaining Equal-Weight while lowering its target to $43 on Sept. 28, Mizuho maintaining Outperform while cutting its target to $39 on Sept. 24, and Evercore ISI Group maintaining Outperform while lowering its target to $44 on Sept. 21.ETFs With PECO ExposurePhillips Edison is held by several small-cap ETFs, including: State Street SPDR US Small Cap Low Volatility Index ETF (ARCA): 0.60% Invesco S&P SmallCap Low Volatility ETF (ARCA): 1.27% Harbor Human Capital Factor US Small Cap ETF (ARCA): 1.97% ETF inflows and outflows can contribute to trading activity in PECO based on the stock’s weighting in each fund.PECO Stock PricePECO Stock Price Activity: Phillips Edison shares are trading higher by 0.57% at $37.70 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.Photo: Shutterstock