I'm now looking for a second real estate sector representative for my new Ivy portfolio. 

That real estate sector includes nine industries all related to real property ownership. Like: general real estate; Real Estate services; and seven varieties of real estate investment trusts, or REITs.

Today I'm reviewing a mid-cap residential REIT, named American Campus Communities Inc  Its trading ticker symbol is ACC. 

American Campus Communities Inc is a real estate investment trust that owns, manages and develops student housing properties in the United States.

The company is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered equity real estate investment trust (REIT) with expertise in the design, finance, development, construction management and operational management of student housing properties. As of September 30, 2018, American Campus Communities owned 168 student housing properties containing approximately 103,500 beds. Including its owned and third-party managed properties, ACC's total managed portfolio consisted of 202 properties with approximately 131,900 beds.

The company is the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the United States and is headquartered in Austin, TX.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity like American Campus Communities Inc: 

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Besides those three, several other keys will finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest.

Those first three primary keys, however, best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money. 

ACC Price

ACC's price per share closed at $42.84 yesterday. A year ago its price was $39.21. So price rose $3.63 per share last year, or 9.25%. 

Assuming ACC's stock trades in the range of $35 to $50 next year, ACC's recent $42.84 price could move up by $1.16 and grow to $44.00 by early-January, 2020. 

ACC Dividends

ACC's most recent quarterly dividend was $0.46 declared October 31st and paid November 26th. 

That $0.46 quarterly stipend equals an annual payout of $1.84 yielding 4.3% at yesterday's $42.84 closing price.

Gains For ACC?

Adding the $1.84 annual estimated dividend to my estimated $1.16 annual price upside estimate for American Campus Communities Inc shows a $3.00 potential gross annual gain, per share, which will be reduced by costs to trade those shares.  

Just under $1,000.00 invested today at the $42.84 recent price would buy us 23 ACC shares. 

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale costs $0.435 per share.

Subtract that $0.435 brokerage cost from the estimated $3.00 gross annual gain leaves a net gain of $2.565 X 23 shares 

= $59.00

for about 6% net gain on a $985.32 investment.

Therefore, American Campus Communities Inc. whose trading ticker symbol is ACC, now shows a possible 6% net gain including a 4.3% dividend yield. 

Twelve brokers cover this stock:

Four say "buy' ACC shares.

One expects ACC stock to "Outperform" peers.

Six say "hold" your ACC shares.

One says ACC will "underperform"

Therefore, you can look at American Campus Communities Inc and see it has made money, is making money, and could rise to net a 6% annual gain including that 4.6% estimated dividend yield. It could be more, it could be less.    

The above speculation is based on past year performance. The actual results remain to be seen to determine if American Campus Communities Inc is worth your time and money.