Values First Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Values First Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 376 shares during the period. Mid-America Apartment Communities comprises approximately 1.6% of Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $2,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 65,696 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,355,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,402,000 after buying an additional 39,123 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 516.4% during the 3rd 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 worth $170,694,000 after buying an additional 899,960 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 346,676 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,087,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MAA shares. KeyCorp upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank decreased 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. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE MAA opened at $156.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.51 and a 1-year high of $167.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $153.43 and a 200-day moving average of $155.59. The company has a market cap of $18.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.82, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.91.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $1.19. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 24.03% and a return on equity of 8.53%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $1.515 per share. 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 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is currently 135.27%.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Company 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.