Insider Selling: Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) EVP Sells $15,626.56 in Stock

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) EVP Timothy Argo sold 94 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.24, for a total value of $15,626.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,949,097.60. This trade represents a 0.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 6.4 %

MAA opened at $153.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.58. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.73 and a 52 week high of $173.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.515 per share. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 135.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on MAA shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price 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 lifted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $148.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.90.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MAA. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 94.9% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

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.