Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. (MAA) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE:MAA) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.08. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. The business had revenue of $272.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.71 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Mid-America Apartment Communities updated its FY16 guidance to $5.77-5.93 EPS.

Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) traded down 1.89% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $103.77. 925,683 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 52 week low of $75.00 and a 52 week high of $110.01. The stock has a market cap of $7.84 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $104.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.23.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 13th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $104.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Thursday, May 5th. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Thursday, May 5th. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $108.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Friday, July 8th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, SunTrust Banks Inc. reissued a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price target (up previously from $103.00) on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Friday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.70.