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

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $168.90.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $173.00 to $182.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $148.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MAA. Norges Bank bought a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 4th quarter valued at about $826,562,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,636,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,025,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,088,143 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 312.6% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,226,026 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $189,507,000 after acquiring an additional 928,851 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 516.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,074,223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $170,694,000 after acquiring an additional 899,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,344,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $517,015,000 after acquiring an additional 708,125 shares during the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Up 0.5 %

MAA stock opened at $162.58 on Friday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 12-month low of $123.73 and a 12-month high of $173.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $19.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $157.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $157.52.

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

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.515 per share. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 135.27%.

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.