Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 1,805 Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA - Free Report) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 207,176 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 1,805 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.18% of Mid-America Apartment Communities worth $32,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,978 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,233,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 251 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,220 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,704,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,168 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 321 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MAA traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $155.17. 158,341 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 747,418. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $159.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.21. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $126.77 and a twelve month high of $173.38. The stock has a market cap of $18.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $549.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $551.21 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 24.03% and a return on equity of 8.53%. Mid-America Apartment Communities's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.515 per share. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities's dividend payout ratio is currently 126.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mid-America Apartment Communities news, EVP Amber Fairbanks sold 173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.85, for a total value of $28,865.05. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at $502,552.20. This represents a 5.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 4,358 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.24, for a total transaction of $724,473.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 324,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,890,187.04. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,313 shares of company stock valued at $1,171,707. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MAA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Raymond James lowered shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $169.50.

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.