Great Lakes Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,263 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MAA. FMR LLC increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,457,634 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $702,125,000 after acquiring an additional 592,306 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,345,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $301,695,000 after acquiring an additional 31,813 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 51.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 2,043,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $262,943,000 after purchasing an additional 697,200 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,725,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $222,023,000 after buying an additional 93,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 188.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,451,578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,179,000 after buying an additional 949,171 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of MAA stock opened at $136.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.80. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.56 and a fifty-two week high of $158.46. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $131.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $543.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $541.44 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 25.92%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 123.27%.

Insider Activity at Mid-America Apartment Communities

In related news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,642 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.07, for a total transaction of $333,076.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,737 shares in the company, valued at $40,057,103.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 2,807 shares of company stock worth $353,955 over the last ninety days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MAA. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $139.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $136.00 price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Friday, February 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $132.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.18.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Profile

MAA, an S&P 500 company, is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on delivering full-cycle and superior investment performance for shareholders through the ownership, management, acquisition, development and redevelopment of quality apartment communities primarily in the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.