Wall Street Zen Downgrades Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) to Sell

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $161.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $166.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $194.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 13th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mid-America Apartment Communities presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.76.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:MAA opened at $147.68 on Friday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 12 month low of $137.51 and a 12 month high of $173.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.69. The firm has a market cap of $17.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.78.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 25.70% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The business had revenue of $549.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $551.21 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amber Fairbanks sold 173 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.85, for a total transaction of $28,865.05. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $502,552.20. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 2,643 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,313 shares of company stock valued at $1,171,707 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mid-America Apartment Communities

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 107.1% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 94.9% during 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 period. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 93.60% 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.