Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (MAA)

Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of indicators shareholders can use to analyze their holdings. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can trounce the market by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the financial markets. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA).

How have hedgies been trading Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -22% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the biggest position in Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA). Fisher Asset Management has a $51.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by John Overdeck and David Siegel of Two Sigma Advisors, with a $16.6 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Greg Poole’s Echo Street Capital Management, Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Because Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds who were dropping their positions entirely in Q1. Intriguingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies sold off the biggest position of all the hedgies we monitor, valued at close to $1.7 million in stock., and Israel Englander of Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds in Q1.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA). These stocks are ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR), Post Properties Inc (NYSE:PPS), Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME), Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS), and Hatteras Financial Corp. (NYSE:HTS). This group of stocks are in the reit – residential industry and their market caps resemble MAA’s market cap.

With the returns shown by our tactics, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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