Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Raymond James increased their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $173.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.90.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Down 6.4 %

Mid-America Apartment Communities stock opened at $153.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a fifty-two week low of $123.73 and a fifty-two week high of $173.38. The stock has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $161.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.49.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $1.19. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 24.03%. Equities research analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.515 dividend. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is 135.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mid-America Apartment Communities

In other Mid-America Apartment Communities news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 4,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.24, for a total value of $724,473.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 324,171 shares in the company, valued at $53,890,187.04. This trade represents a 1.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter worth $357,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 44,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,096,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 34.8% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 18,582 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,953,000 after purchasing an additional 4,794 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Company Profile

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the operation, acquisition, and development of apartment communities. It operates through the Same Store and Non-Same Store segments. The Same Store Communities segment represents those apartment communities that have been owned and stabilized for at least 12 months as of the first day of the calendar year.