Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Raised to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $190.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous target price of $148.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.25% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $157.00 to $155.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $159.50 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.10.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities stock opened at $166.31 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.12, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a 12-month low of $123.73 and a 12-month high of $173.38. 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 earnings results 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 predict that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Mid-America Apartment Communities

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in Mid-America Apartment Communities during the third quarter worth $32,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mid-America Apartment Communities by 94.9% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Mid-America Apartment Communities during the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.60% of the company’s stock.

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.