Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (MAA) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.52 on April 30th

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of 1.515 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th.

Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend by an average of 12.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a dividend payout ratio of 140.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Mid-America Apartment Communities to earn $9.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.7%.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MAA stock opened at $161.76 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.49. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 52 week low of $123.73 and a 52 week high of $173.38. 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 stock has a market cap of $18.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90.

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, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.43.

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.