Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Price Target Raised to $159.00

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) had its price target upped by Evercore ISI from $155.00 to $159.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an in-line rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on MAA. Mizuho dropped their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. KeyCorp upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

MAA stock opened at $155.87 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a one year low of $121.51 and a one year high of $167.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.22 billion, a PE ratio of 34.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.59.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS 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, analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. This is a boost from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 135.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the third quarter worth approximately $2,890,000. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 203,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,350,000 after acquiring an additional 5,178 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 180,689 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,711,000 after acquiring an additional 4,301 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,304,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,484 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,040,000 after acquiring an additional 12,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

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.