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

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

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. JMP Securities reiterated 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. Raymond James cut shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.50.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Shares of MAA stock opened at $152.73 on Thursday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a twelve month low of $126.77 and a twelve month high of $173.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. Mid-America Apartment Communities had a net margin of 24.03% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The firm had revenue of $549.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $551.21 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict 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 that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.85, for a total transaction of $28,865.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $502,552.20. This trade represents a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO H Eric Bolton, Jr. sold 4,358 shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.24, for a total value of $724,473.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 324,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,890,187.04. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,313 shares of company stock valued at $1,171,707 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mid-America Apartment Communities

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MAA. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 207.1% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 9.5% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,236,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $207,237,000 after purchasing an additional 107,661 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the first quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Mid-America Apartment Communities in the first quarter valued at approximately $482,000. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.