Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities were worth $699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the fourth quarter valued at about $551,000. DnB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 19,302 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,984,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 25,398 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,926,000 after buying an additional 4,104 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 187,781 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,025,000 after acquiring an additional 7,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 271.3% during the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 289,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,700,000 after acquiring an additional 211,308 shares during the last quarter. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MAA opened at $165.93 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $159.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.57. The company has a market cap of $19.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.04, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $123.73 and a one year high of $173.38.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) 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, 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 anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.515 dividend. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Mid-America Apartment Communities’s payout ratio is 135.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $173.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.90.

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.