Marshall Wace LLP Buys 61,982 Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA - Free Report) by 91.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 129,865 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 61,982 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.11% of Mid-America Apartment Communities worth $20,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the fourth quarter worth $826,562,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,344,862 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $517,015,000 after acquiring an additional 708,125 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,193,188 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $492,421,000 after purchasing an additional 52,050 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,656,669 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $410,641,000 after purchasing an additional 40,436 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,389,113 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $214,715,000 after purchasing an additional 33,528 shares in the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MAA. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $157.00 to $155.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James boosted their target price on 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. Scotiabank upgraded 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $168.76.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Performance

NYSE:MAA traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $159.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 87,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 869,135. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.77 and a 12 month high of $173.38. The firm has a market cap of $18.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $161.34 and a 200-day moving average of $157.13. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts expect that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Mid-America Apartment Communities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mid-America Apartment Communities

In other Mid-America Apartment Communities news, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were 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. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,142,842. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Company Profile

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.