DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Cuts Holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lessened its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,127 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $10,666,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 11,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 2,170 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 194.2% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 10,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,399,000 after purchasing an additional 6,870 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 32,068 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the fourth quarter valued at $145,000. Finally, Sabal Trust CO lifted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 156,064 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,984,000 after buying an additional 3,891 shares during the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MAA. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $139.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $129.50 to $138.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $129.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.38.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Up 2.5 %

NYSE MAA traded up $3.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $150.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,152,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 654,960. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $139.74 and its 200 day moving average is $133.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.56 and a fifty-two week high of $152.02. The company has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.85.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $543.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $541.44 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 23.73% and a return on equity of 8.25%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 123.27%.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

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.