Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Raised to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $168.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price target of $159.50.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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 note on Tuesday. Mizuho dropped their price objective 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. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Friday. They issued an “inline” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $166.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock opened at $148.38 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $155.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.39. 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 firm has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a PE ratio of 33.49, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.91. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 1 year low of $121.51 and a 1 year high of $167.39.

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

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued 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 positive change from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is presently 136.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

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.