Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 39.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 743 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 12.8% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,352,000 after acquiring an additional 3,451 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,107,000. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC bought a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,572,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $808,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 156,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,446,000 after buying an additional 8,984 shares in the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MAA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $154.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $156.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $139.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.64.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Mid-America Apartment Communities stock opened at $160.94 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $156.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.33, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.38 and a 52-week high of $167.39.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by ($1.20). Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 23.84% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $551.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $548.53 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 132.73%.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

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.