Adelante Capital Management LLC Sells 34,230 Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Adelante Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 128,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 34,230 shares during the period. Mid-America Apartment Communities accounts for about 1.3% of Adelante Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Adelante Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $19,804,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MAA. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,162,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 54,192 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,611,000 after purchasing an additional 7,644 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 29,763 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 143,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,618 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of MAA opened at $157.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $161.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.29. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $126.77 and a 52-week high of $173.38. The company has a market cap of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.79.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 135.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,643 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,949,563.09. The trade was a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,142,842. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MAA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $173.00 to $182.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.76.

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.