Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) Position Boosted by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,652 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,930 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $2,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MAA. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,978 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 4,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 6,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 4,178 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MAA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho reduced 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They issued an “inline” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.80.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Performance

MAA stock opened at $158.04 on Friday. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.51 and a twelve month high of $167.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $18.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $153.77 and its 200-day moving average is $155.12.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its 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 return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 23.84%. Equities research analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued a $1.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 136.79%.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

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.