Focus Partners Wealth Boosts Stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 76.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,040 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 8,673 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $3,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 17,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,670,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1,582.9% in the 4th quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 6,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 189,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,280,000 after buying an additional 45,519 shares during the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 51,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,941,000 after buying an additional 4,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,704,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

NYSE:MAA opened at $160.93 on Friday. 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 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 capitalization of $18.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $160.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.99.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 24.03%. The business had revenue of $549.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $551.21 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is 126.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MAA shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 shares were 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amber Fairbanks sold 173 shares of the business’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 transaction of $28,865.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $502,552.20. This represents a 5.43% decrease in their position. 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 three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.