Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) Shares Purchased by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA - Free Report) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,652 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 1,930 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $2,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MAA. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 516.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,074,223 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $170,694,000 after acquiring an additional 899,960 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 830.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 125,785 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $19,987,000 after acquiring an additional 112,271 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 2,378.4% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 84,339 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,401,000 after acquiring an additional 80,936 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,731,712 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,228,569,000 after acquiring an additional 65,696 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 194.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 98,193 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 64,839 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on MAA shares. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 research note on Friday. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $166.00.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE MAA traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $156.00. The company had a trading volume of 674,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 747,506. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $153.43 and a 200 day moving average of $155.59. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.51 and a 1-year high of $167.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.91.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, research analysts anticipate that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $1.515 per share. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Mid-America Apartment Communities's previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Mid-America Apartment Communities's dividend payout ratio is currently 135.27%.

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.