Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $161.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James cut Mid-America Apartment Communities from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $169.50.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 1.1%

MAA traded down $1.68 during trading on Thursday, reaching $152.73. 659,322 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 747,480. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a fifty-two week low of $126.77 and a fifty-two week high of $173.38. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $159.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $17.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.80.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 24.03%. The company had revenue of $549.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $551.21 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. Mid-America Apartment Communities's dividend payout ratio is 126.25%.

Insider Activity at Mid-America Apartment Communities

In other Mid-America Apartment Communities news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 4,358 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.24, for a total transaction of $724,473.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 324,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,890,187.04. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amber Fairbanks sold 173 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,012 shares in the company, valued at $502,552.20. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,313 shares of company stock worth $1,171,707 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 207.1% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,953 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,236,647 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $207,237,000 after acquiring an additional 107,661 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 1st quarter worth approximately $347,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 1st quarter worth approximately $482,000. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.