Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Rating Increased to Overweight at KeyCorp

KeyCorp upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) from a sector weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $180.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

MAA has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $187.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $156.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $169.00 to $165.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.76.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Performance

MAA stock opened at $156.07 on Tuesday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 1-year low of $121.51 and a 1-year high of $167.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $156.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $152.08. The firm has a market cap of $18.24 billion, a PE ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.90.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.18 by ($1.20). The business had revenue of $551.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $548.53 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 23.84% and a return on equity of 8.38%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.515 dividend. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is presently 136.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,731,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,228,569,000 after purchasing an additional 65,696 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 17.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,633,160 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $375,515,000 after buying an additional 393,067 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 6.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,716,628 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,803,000 after acquiring an additional 97,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,644,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $234,497,000 after acquiring an additional 44,621 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

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.