Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on MAA. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $173.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $148.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.90.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Up 0.4 %

MAA stock opened at $165.93 on Friday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a fifty-two week low of $123.73 and a fifty-two week high of $173.38. The company has a market capitalization of $19.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $159.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $1.19. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 24.03%. As a group, analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MAA. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,731,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,228,569,000 after acquiring an additional 65,696 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,636,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,025,868,000 after buying an additional 2,088,143 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the fourth quarter worth about $826,562,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,344,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $517,015,000 after buying an additional 708,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,193,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $492,421,000 after purchasing an additional 52,050 shares during the period. 93.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

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.