Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $55.12 Million Stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 356,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,312 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.31% of Mid-America Apartment Communities worth $55,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MAA. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 4,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.4% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 6,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA raised its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.1% during the third quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 4,178 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MAA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $173.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley raised Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE MAA opened at $156.82 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $155.50. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.51 and a 12 month high of $167.39.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $1.515 per share. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. This is an increase from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.27%.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Company Profile

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.