Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,295 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,330 shares during the quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $2,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the third 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 buying an additional 65,696 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 48,168 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,355,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,402,000 after acquiring an additional 39,123 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 516.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,074,223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $170,694,000 after acquiring an additional 899,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 346,676 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,087,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MAA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of MAA opened at $160.65 on Monday. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.23 and a twelve month high of $167.39. The company has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $153.29 and a 200 day moving average of $156.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. 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 currently 135.27%.

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.