Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Overweight” Rating

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $168.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $159.50. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 14.31% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MAA. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays started coverage on Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $166.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $173.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $169.00 to $165.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.20.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MAA opened at $146.97 on Friday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a one year low of $121.51 and a one year high of $167.39. The stock has a market cap of $17.18 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $155.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by ($1.20). The company had revenue of $551.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $548.53 million. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 23.84% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MAA. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 30.5% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

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.