Sarasin & Partners LLP Raises Holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 10.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,035 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,475 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $2,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MAA. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,309 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,514,000 after buying an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 4th quarter worth $158,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 60.0% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 4,216 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 22,531 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,483,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mid-America Apartment Communities

In other news, EVP Amber Fairbanks sold 173 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.85, for a total value of $28,865.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $502,552.20. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,643 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.93, for a total value of $396,264.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,813 shares in the company, valued at $47,949,563.09. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,313 shares of company stock valued at $1,171,707 over the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

NYSE:MAA opened at $156.55 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.14. The stock has a market cap of $18.33 billion, a PE ratio of 34.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.80. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $133.19 and a 52 week high of $173.38.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $549.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $551.21 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 24.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MAA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $161.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities raised their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.50.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Profile

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.