Barclays Lowers Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Price Target to $160.00

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $163.00 to $160.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $157.00 to $155.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $173.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.76.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

MAA stock opened at $154.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company’s 50-day moving average is $161.35 and its 200-day moving average is $157.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.03 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.79. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 1 year low of $123.73 and a 1 year high of $173.38.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is currently 135.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 4,358 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.24, for a total transaction of $724,473.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 324,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,890,187.04. This represents a 1.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,140 shares of company stock worth $1,142,842. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MAA. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,636,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,025,868,000 after buying an additional 2,088,143 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 4th quarter valued at about $826,562,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,344,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $517,015,000 after purchasing an additional 708,125 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,193,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $492,421,000 after purchasing an additional 52,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,656,669 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $410,641,000 after purchasing an additional 40,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.