Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

MAA has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho reduced 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. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued an “inline” rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. 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 target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MAA opened at $159.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $153.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.12. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a fifty-two week low of $121.51 and a fifty-two week high of $167.39. The firm has a market cap of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.91.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $1.19. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 23.84% and a return on equity of 8.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 136.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MAA. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.