bLong Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 5,680 Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

bLong Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,680 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $878,000. Mid-America Apartment Communities comprises approximately 0.7% of bLong Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,731,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,228,569,000 after buying an additional 65,696 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,141,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $497,624,000 after purchasing an additional 48,168 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,355,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,402,000 after acquiring an additional 39,123 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 516.4% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 346,676 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,087,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MAA. Raymond James raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $159.50 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.45.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

MAA stock opened at $157.05 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $153.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.06, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.91. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.23 and a 12-month 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.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 earnings per share 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, equities analysts predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $1.515 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. This is a positive change from Mid-America Apartment Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.