Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $166.92.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $173.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $166.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $169.00 to $165.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,575 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 682 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 143,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,867,000 after acquiring an additional 4,618 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 5.8% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 29,763 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 16.4% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 54,192 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,611,000 after purchasing an additional 7,644 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock opened at $149.29 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $156.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.45 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.91. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 52-week low of $121.51 and a 52-week high of $167.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.18 by ($1.20). The business had revenue of $551.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $548.53 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 23.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.88 EPS for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. This is an increase from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 136.79%.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

MAA, an S&P 500 company, is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on delivering full-cycle and superior investment performance for shareholders through the ownership, management, acquisition, development and redevelopment of quality apartment communities primarily in the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.