Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) Shares Bought by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $4,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 57.8% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 363 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,643 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.93, for a total transaction of $396,264.99. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,949,563.09. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 7,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,142,842 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MAA stock opened at $154.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.79. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $161.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.11. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.73 and a twelve month high of $173.38.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.515 per share. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 135.27%.

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.