Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 5,347,496 Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 5,347,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $826,562,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,731,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,228,569,000 after purchasing an additional 65,696 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,344,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $517,015,000 after buying an additional 708,125 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,141,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $497,624,000 after buying an additional 48,168 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,389,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $214,715,000 after acquiring an additional 33,528 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 516.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,074,223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $170,694,000 after acquiring an additional 899,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.90.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Performance

NYSE MAA opened at $164.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $19.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $159.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.58. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.515 dividend. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 135.27%.

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.