CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Increases Position in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 1.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 208,823 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,296 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $27,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MAA. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Emfo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $135.00 to $154.00 in a report on Monday, May 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $129.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $129.50 to $138.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.59.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 2.3 %

MAA opened at $140.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.56 and a 1-year high of $153.97. The company has a market capitalization of $16.37 billion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.17.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.23 by ($1.01). Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 25.92%. The business had revenue of $543.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $541.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.88 EPS for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is presently 123.27%.

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.