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

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $161.64.

MAA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $173.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Raymond James raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $139.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $187.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $144.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday, August 12th.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Down 0.3 %

MAA opened at $157.72 on Friday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $120.99 and a fifty-two week high of $167.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $156.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.60, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.88.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.98 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,731,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,228,569,000 after acquiring an additional 65,696 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,141,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $497,624,000 after purchasing an additional 48,168 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 17.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,633,160 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $375,515,000 after purchasing an additional 393,067 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 6.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,716,628 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,803,000 after buying an additional 97,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.8% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,644,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $234,497,000 after buying an additional 44,621 shares in the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.