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

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $167.54 and last traded at $167.19, with a volume of 143981 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $164.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp raised Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the company 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 given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Up 1.6 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.46. The company has a market cap of $19.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $1.19. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 24.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued 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 dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 135.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MAA. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 14,666 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 76,404 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,810,000 after acquiring an additional 18,702 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the fourth quarter worth about $328,000. Cornerstone Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the fourth quarter valued at about $259,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,128,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $174,507,000 after purchasing an additional 54,763 shares in the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.