You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: We caution you that such statements reflect our best judgment based on factors currently known to us and that actual events or results could differ materially.
With Josh and me on the phone today are Mark Olear, our Chief Operating Officer, and Brian Dickman, our new Chief Financial Officer.
I've known Brian for many years and we are all enjoying working with him and looking forward to his contributions at Getty for years to come.
I'll begin today's call by providing an overview of our fourth quarter and full-year 2020 performance, update everyone on our business in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, touch on our 2021 strategic objectives and then we'll pass the call to Mark and Brian to discuss our portfolio and financial results in more detail.
We closed out 2020 with a highly productive quarter, which saw each aspect of our business pose significant accomplishments.
During the year, we maintained high monthly rent collections and stable occupancy in our portfolio, acquired 34 properties and completed six redevelopment projects.
The net result was the continued growth of both our revenues from rental properties, which increased by 3.5% for the quarter and 5% for the year.
And our adjusted funds from operations per share, which grew by 12% for the quarter and 7% for the year.
In a normal year, we'd be proud to report on this growth.
When you consider the countless challenges brought upon us by COVID-19, I can say with great satisfaction that these results were only possible due to the extraordinary efforts put forth by the entire Getty team this year.
I believe these results reflect the value of our portfolio and combined with our strong and flexible balance sheet and growing pipeline of investment prospects position the Company well for success as we work toward 2021 and beyond.
I'm pleased to report that our fourth quarter results continue to demonstrate the stability of our triple-net lease rents and growth platform.
Our portfolio of convenience stores, gas stations and other automotive assets produced another strong quarter of rent collections, operating performance and growth at Getty.
We saw the rent collection rate increase to 98.7% and we collected substantially all of the deferred rent and mortgage payments that were due to us in the fourth quarter.
We entered 2021 with a small balance of COVID-related deferrals, which we expect to collect throughout this year.
In addition, Getty completed several leasing and disposition transactions in the quarter, which we -- which will serve to stabilize the small number of assets where we were experiencing difficulties with rent collections.
Looking ahead, although uncertainty remains regarding the forward impact of COVID-19 to the broader economy, we are encouraged by the strength exhibited by our tenants and assets since the beginning of the pandemic.
We will continue to be vigilant in monitoring the health of our tenants as we believe the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic on the US economy will continue to impact the consumer and retail activity through at least the first half of 2021, and therefore, could negatively affect Getty's rent collections and financial results.
The execution of the Company's acquisition strategy was an important driver of Q4 and full year 2020 performance.
For the quarter, Getty acquired 10 properties for $45.1 million and for the year, we acquired 34 properties for $150 million, which represents significant growth over the Company's acquisition activity in the prior year.
These high-quality assets are located in numerous markets across the country and include portfolios of both convenience stores which offer consumers food, traditional merchandise and fuel as well as car washes.
We also continued the momentum of our redevelopment program as we completed our third project with AutoZone, bringing our total of completed projects for the year to six.
We are closing in on completing 20 projects since the inception of our redevelopment strategy further demonstrating the value of the real estate we hold in our portfolio.
Our balance sheet also ended 2020 in excellent condition as we successfully issued a $175 million, 3.4% debt private placement in December and we issued approximately $65 million of equity under our ATM program during the year.
Our leverage continues to be less than 5 times and with a revolver that is almost completely undrawn, Getty has significant capacity to fund its growth plans.
As we enter 2021, we feel encouraged about our portfolio of nearly 1,000 properties.
The convenience store industry and other automotive businesses are essential and largely internet resistant.
Our rents 65% of which come from the top 50 MSAs in the US continue to be well covered.
In fact, despite COVID-related challenges, our rent coverage ratio remained stable throughout the year and ended 2020 at a healthy 2.6 times.
Our portfolio is built around serving the needs of the car driving individual and it's continuing to do so whether it's stopping for convenience store items, fuel, getting snacks, meals, or getting your car washed or reserviced.
These are needs that continue to be in high demand today and which we believe will be stable for the mobile consumer for years to come.
Our team is more focused than ever on executing our growth initiatives, including maximizing the quality of our input portfolio through continued active asset management, enhancing our portfolio through accretive acquisition in stores and other automotive assets which serve the mobile consumer and unlocking embedded value through our selective redevelopments.
We are confident in our targeted investment strategy, which focuses on acquiring high-quality real estate in Metropolitan markets across the country and in our ability to continue to successfully execute on these strategic objectives.
Our approach and focus on driving growth should result in driving additional shareholder value as we move through the remainder of 2021 and beyond.
During 2020, Getty's underwriting of potential transactions grew as we added resources to focus on convenience store and other automotive opportunities.
For the year, we reviewed approximately $2.1 billion of opportunities, which met our initial screen process.
Convenience store opportunities represented 62% and other automotive represented 38% of the total.
As Chris mentioned, we remain highly committed to growing our portfolio in terms of both the convenience store industry, which offers consumers food, traditional merchandise and fuel, and with other automotive-related assets that are tied to mobile consumer spending.
Going forward, we anticipate growing both areas of our underwriting platform as we view the businesses as highly complementary and the underwriting characteristics to be very similar.
To review a few highlights of our investment activities, for the fourth quarter, we invested $45.1 million in 10 highly -- high quality convenience store and car wash assets.
In October, we completed a sale-leaseback with CEFCO Convenience Stores, one of the leading independent convenience store operators in the Southern United States.
In this transaction, Getty acquired six properties for $28.7 million, all of located throughout the state of Texas.
These properties are subject to unitary triple-net lease with a 15-year base term and multiple renewal options.
They have an average lot size of 2.7 acres and an average store size in excess of 5,300 square feet, which reflect that the assets we acquired have all the attributes of today's modern full service convenience store.
Our initial cash yield is in line with our historical acquisition cap rate range.
In addition, we acquired four car wash assets in individual transactions with Go Car Wash and Zips Car Wash for $16.4 million in the aggregate.
For the year, we acquired 34 properties for $150 million.
Our weighted average initial return on acquisitions for the year was 7%.
Finally, the weighted average initial lease term of the properties acquired for the year was 14.6 years.
Overall, our acquisition team remains busy sourcing and underwriting potential investments and we continue to feel strongly that the volume of opportunities we are underwriting will produce additional growth as we progress through this year.
We expect that our future acquisition activity will remain focused on the convenience store and other automotive sectors and that we will pursue direct sale-leasebacks, acquisitions of net leased properties and funding for new to industry construction.
Finally, we remain committed to our core underwriting principles of acquiring high quality real estate and partnering with strong tenants in our target asset classes.
Moving to our redevelopment platform.
For the year, we invested approximately $2.9 million in both our completed projects and sites which are in progress.
In the fourth quarter, we returned one redevelopment project back to the net lease portfolio bringing our total for completed rent commencement projects to six in 2020 and 19 since the inception of our program.
Specifically, in October, rent commenced on project with AutoZone in New Jersey.
In this project, we invested $0.2 million and we expect to generate a return on our investment of more than 45%.
In terms of redevelopment projects, we ended the quarter with 10 signed leases or letters of intent, which includes six active projects and four signed leases on properties, which are currently subject to triple-net leases, but which have not yet been recaptured from the current tenants.
We expect to have rent commencements at several sites during 2021 with remainder completing within three years.
On the capital spending side, we have invested approximately $1.8 million in the 10 redevelopment projects in our pipeline and estimate that these projects will require total investment by Getty of $5.8 million.
We project these redevelopments will generate incremental returns to the company in excess of where we could invest these funds in the acquisition market today.
We remain committed to optimizing our portfolio and continue to anticipate redevelopment opportunities over the next five years, possibly involving between 5% and 10% of our current portfolio with targeted unlevered redevelopment program yields of greater than 10%.
We sold 11 properties during 2020 realizing proceeds of approximately $6 million.
These properties are sold -- sold were vacant or returned to us by tenants for the terms of their lease agreements.
We expect the net financial impact of these dispositions will be minimal.
In addition, during the year, we exited 10 properties, which we previously leased from third-party landlords.
As we look ahead, we will continue to selectively dispose of properties where we have made the determination that the property is no longer competitive as a convenience store location or does not have redevelopment potential.
The net result is our portfolio is now 35 states plus Washington DC and 65% of our annualized base rent comes from the top 50 national MSAs.
We ended the year with 946 net lease properties, six active redevelopment sites and seven vacant properties.
Our weighted average lease term is approximately 9.5 years, and our overall occupancy, excluding active redevelopments, increased to 99.3%.
I'm excited to be here with Chris, Mark, Josh and the rest of the Getty team and I look forward to interacting with all of you going forward.
I'll start with a recap of earnings.
Hopefully, everyone's had a chance to see yesterday's release.
AFFO, which we believe best reflects the Company's core operating performance, was $0.48 per share for the fourth quarter and $1.84 per share for the full year, representing year-over-year increases of 12% and 7% respectively.
FFO was $0.91 per share for the fourth quarter and $2.32 per share for the full year.
Both periods were impacted by non-recurring legal settlement in the company's favor.
Our total revenues were $37.1 million in the fourth quarter and $147.3 million for the full year, representing year-over-year increases of 3.3% and 4.7% respectively.
Rental income, which excludes tenant reimbursements and interest on notes and mortgages receivables grew 3.9% to $31.8 million in the fourth quarter and 7.1% for the full year to $128.2 million.
Acquisition activity, rent escalators in our leases, and the completion of redevelopment projects, all contributed to the growth in our rental income.
On the expense side, we benefited from a reduction in property costs in both the fourth quarter and full year, primarily due to decreases in third-party rent expense and professional fees related to property redevelopments.
Environmental expenses increased in the fourth quarter versus the prior year, although the amounts were credits in both periods, a decrease for the full year versus 2019.
Environmental expenses are subject to a number of estimates and non-cash adjustments and continue to be highly variable.
G&A expenses increased in both the fourth quarter and full year primarily due to increases in employee-related expenses, including stock-based compensation and certain legal and other professional fees.
As previously mentioned, in the fourth quarter, we had a non-recurring benefit of $20.5 million as a result of the settlement of a litigation matter.
Turning to the balance sheet and our capital markets activities.
During the fourth quarter, we issued $175 million of new 10-year unsecured notes at 3.43% via direct private placements at three life insurance companies.
We used the proceeds to retire the full $100 million outstanding under our 6% Series A notes, which were coming due in early 2021 and to repay borrowings under our credit facility.
As a result of this transaction, we incurred a $1.2 million debt extinguishment charge which is included in GAAP net earnings and FFO.
We are also active with our at-the-market equity program during the quarter, raising $25.1 million at an average price of $28.45 per share.
For the full year, we raised $64.4 million through the ATM at an average price of $29.16 per share, which helped to fund our growth and maintain our low leverage profile.
As of December 31, we had total debt outstanding of $550 million, including $25 million outstanding under our credit facility and $525 million of long-term fixed rate unsecured notes.
Our weighted average borrowing cost was 4.1% and the weighted average maturity of our debt is 7.3 years.
In addition, our total debt to total market capitalization was 32%, our total debt to total asset value was 40% and our net debt to EBITDA is 4.9 times.
With no debt maturities until June of 2023, other than our credit facility, which matures in March of next year that has a one-year extension option in our election.
As we look ahead and think about our capital needs, we remain committed to maintaining a conservative, well-laddered and flexible capital structure.
With respect to our environmental liability, we ended the quarter and year at $48.1 million, which was down $2.6 million from the end of 2019.
For the fourth quarter and full year, net environmental remediation spending was approximately $1.6 million and $6.4 million respectively.
And finally, we are introducing our 2021 AFFO per share guidance at a range of $1.86 to $1.88 per share.
Our guidance includes transaction activity today but does not otherwise assume any potential acquisitions or capital markets activities for the remainder of 2021.
Specific factors, which impact our guidance this year include the full year impact of our 2020 investment and capital raising activities, our expectations that operating cost will generally continue to increase, our expectation that we will forego rent when we recapture properties for redevelopment and our expectation that we will remain active in pursuing acquisitions and redevelopment, which could result in additional expenses for deals ultimately not completed.

user
q4 adjusted ffo per share $0.48.
q4 ffo per share $0.91.
established 2021 affo guidance at a range of $1.86 to $1.88 per diluted share.
qtrly total revenues $37.1 million versus $35.9 million.

assistant