Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Now Covered by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an inline rating and a $155.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Scotiabank reduced 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. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of 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. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $166.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $166.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Up 1.0 %

MAA opened at $148.38 on Friday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 12-month low of $121.51 and a 12-month high of $167.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.34 billion, a PE ratio of 33.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $155.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.60.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by ($1.20). The company had revenue of $551.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $548.53 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 23.84% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. This is a boost from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is currently 136.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MAA. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,890,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 203,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,350,000 after purchasing an additional 5,178 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,301 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter worth $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 worth $9,040,000 after buying an additional 12,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Company Profile

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.