RNC Capital Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

RNC Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,990 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $1,233,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 4,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $746,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in 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 worth $962,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.1% in the third 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 in the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock opened at $158.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $153.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.12. The company has a market cap of $18.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.51 and a 1 year high of $167.39.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 136.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MAA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research note on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $173.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.80.

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.