State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Cuts Stock Holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury reduced its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 794 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury owned about 0.16% of Mid-America Apartment Communities worth $29,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,978 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,704,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,168 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its position in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 4,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 93.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MAA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $148.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Finally, Raymond James boosted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.76.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Down 1.3 %

MAA opened at $154.98 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.12 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $161.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $157.06. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.55 and a 52 week high of $173.38.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is currently 135.27%.

Insider Transactions at Mid-America Apartment Communities

In other Mid-America Apartment Communities news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.93, for a total transaction of $396,264.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,949,563.09. The trade was a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 7,140 shares of company stock worth $1,142,842 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.30% 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.