Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) Shares Sold by Sabal Trust CO

Sabal Trust CO trimmed its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 151,713 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,746 shares during the quarter. Sabal Trust CO owned about 0.13% of Mid-America Apartment Communities worth $23,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pring Turner Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Pring Turner Capital Group Inc. now owns 30,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,672,000 after buying an additional 1,518 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,489,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 16,134 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,494,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA lifted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 71,366 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,031,000 after purchasing an additional 18,395 shares during the period. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MAA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $173.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of MAA opened at $164.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $19.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $153.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.41. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.23 and a twelve 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $1.515 dividend. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. This is a boost 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 payout ratio is presently 135.27%.

Mid-America Apartment Communities 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.