Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) Competitors

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, media sentiment, dividends and risk.

Do analysts rate MAA or AVB?

Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has a consensus target price of $169.41, suggesting a potential upside of 9.73%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus target price of $239.93, suggesting a potential upside of 20.12%. Given AvalonBay Communities' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AvalonBay Communities is more favorable than Mid-America Apartment Communities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mid-America Apartment Communities	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47

Which has better valuation and earnings, MAA or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Mid-America Apartment Communities. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mid-America Apartment Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mid-America Apartment Communities	$2.20B	8.23	$527.54M	$4.80	32.16
AvalonBay Communities	$2.95B	9.65	$1.08B	$8.03	24.88

Is MAA or AVB more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 37.13% compared to Mid-America Apartment Communities' net margin of 24.03%. AvalonBay Communities' return on equity of 9.15% beat Mid-America Apartment Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mid-America Apartment Communities	24.03%	8.53%	4.52%
AvalonBay Communities	37.13%	9.15%	5.15%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of MAA or AVB?

93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer MAA or AVB?

In the previous week, Mid-America Apartment Communities had 4 more articles in the media than AvalonBay Communities. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Mid-America Apartment Communities and 20 mentions for AvalonBay Communities. AvalonBay Communities' average media sentiment score of 1.35 beat Mid-America Apartment Communities' score of 0.86 indicating that AvalonBay Communities is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mid-America Apartment Communities	14 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AvalonBay Communities	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MAA or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities received 152 more outperform votes than Mid-America Apartment Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.93% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 59.68% of users gave Mid-America Apartment Communities an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mid-America Apartment Communities	Outperform Votes 524 59.68%	Underperform Votes 354 40.32%
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 676 59.93%	Underperform Votes 452 40.07%

Which has more volatility & risk, MAA or AVB?

Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MAA or AVB a better dividend stock?

Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 126.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AvalonBay Communities pays out 87.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years and AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Mid-America Apartment Communities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats Mid-America Apartment Communities on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.