Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 2,919 Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 90,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,919 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $14,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 3,875 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $599,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 108.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 544 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,507 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 18,351 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,837,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of MAA stock opened at $160.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.91. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.23 and a fifty-two week high of $167.39. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $153.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $1.515 dividend. This is a positive change from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 135.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MAA shares. Scotiabank upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $173.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.00.

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.