Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Stock Price

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) had its target price increased by equities researchers at Scotiabank from $182.00 to $194.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.16% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.55.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MAA opened at $161.45 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $160.80 and its 200 day moving average is $157.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $18.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.80. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a fifty-two week low of $126.77 and a fifty-two week high of $173.38.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $549.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $551.21 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 24.03% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.93, for a total transaction of $396,264.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,949,563.09. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amber Fairbanks sold 173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.85, for a total value of $28,865.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $502,552.20. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,313 shares of company stock valued at $1,171,707 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 4.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,952,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $327,247,000 after buying an additional 89,370 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.3% in the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 22,826 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,825,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 592.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 276,307 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,304,000 after purchasing an additional 236,380 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 4.6% in the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 6,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 238.7% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 278,849 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,794,000 after purchasing an additional 196,522 shares during the period. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

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.