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Why Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now

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Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Mid-America Apartment Communities in Focus

Based in Germantown, Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of -7.37%. The real estate investment trust is paying out a dividend of $1.09 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.05% compared to the REIT and Equity Trust - Residential industry's yield of 2.57% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.37%.

In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $4.35 is up 6.1% from last year. Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 4.01%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Mid-America Apartment Communities's payout ratio is 58%, which means it paid out 58% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for MAA for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $7.98 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 13.84%.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.

Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, MAA is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).


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