Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $173.38 and last traded at $168.38, with a volume of 924528 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $170.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MAA. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Mizuho dropped their price objective 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. KeyCorp raised 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 research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 2.0 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.91.

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 (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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $1.515 dividend. This is an increase from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MAA. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,683 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,570,000 after acquiring an additional 5,816 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 123.5% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 11,218 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,783,000 after acquiring an additional 6,198 shares during the period. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.