Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) Plans $1.52 Quarterly Dividend

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of 1.515 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $6.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%.

Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a dividend payout ratio of 140.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Mid-America Apartment Communities to earn $9.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.7%.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Price Performance

Mid-America Apartment Communities stock opened at $162.07 on Wednesday. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a one year low of $123.73 and a one year high of $173.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $157.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.18, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.90.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mid-America Apartment Communities will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MAA. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Mid-America Apartment Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Mid-America Apartment Communities from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.43.

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.