Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Upgraded by Scotiabank to “Sector Outperform” Rating

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) was upgraded by Scotiabank from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $182.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target suggests a potential upside of 15.98% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. KeyCorp raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.45.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Performance

NYSE MAA opened at $156.92 on Friday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 1 year low of $123.23 and a 1 year high of $167.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.34 billion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.60.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $1.19. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 24.03% and a return on equity of 8.53%. Analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,731,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,228,569,000 after buying an additional 65,696 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the fourth quarter worth $826,562,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,344,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $517,015,000 after purchasing an additional 708,125 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,193,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $492,421,000 after purchasing an additional 52,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.5% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Company 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.