Yahoo Finance Does Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.'s (NYSE:MAA) CEO Pay Reflect Performance?
H. Bolton became the CEO of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) in 2001. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at other big companies. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
See our latest analysis for Mid-America Apartment Communities
How Does H. Bolton's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. is worth US$15b, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$4.7m for the year to December 2018. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$775k. We note that more than half of the total compensation is not the salary; and performance requirements may apply to this non-salary portion. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations over US$8.0b and the median CEO total compensation was US$11m. There aren't very many mega-cap companies, so we had to take a wide range to get a meaningful comparison figure.
Most shareholders would consider it a positive that H. Bolton takes less in total compensation than the CEOs of most other large companies, leaving more for shareholders. While this is a good thing, you'll need to understand the business better before you can form an opinion.
You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Mid-America Apartment Communities, below.
Is Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. Growing?
On average over the last three years, Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. has shrunk earnings per share by 7.0% each year (measured with a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 4.3% over last year.
Few shareholders would be pleased to read that earnings per share are lower over three years. The fairly low revenue growth fails to impress given that the earnings per share is down. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.
Has Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. Been A Good Investment?
Most shareholders would probably be pleased with Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. for providing a total return of 50% over three years. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.
In Summary...
It looks like Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. pays its CEO less than the average at large companies.
H. Bolton is paid less than CEOs of other large companies. While the company isn't growing on our analysis, shareholder returns have been good in recent years. So, while it would be nice to have EPS growth, on our analysis the CEO compensation is not an issue. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Mid-America Apartment Communities shares (free trial).
Important note: Mid-America Apartment Communities may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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