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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.

Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, 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

Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA - Free Report) is headquartered in Germantown, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -10.3% since the start of the year. The real estate investment trust is paying out a dividend of $1.09 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.11% compared to the REIT and Equity Trust - Residential industry's yield of 2.62% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.45%.

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

MAA is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $8.05 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 14.84%.

Bottom Line

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. 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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