D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Purchases 323 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,019,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $444,243,000 after buying an additional 53,927 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management lifted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 7,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AvalonBay Communities in the fourth quarter valued at $229,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,920,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $227.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $213.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $237.86.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVB opened at $198.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $180.40 and a one year high of $239.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $205.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.03. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The business had revenue of $693.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $744.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.17%.

About AvalonBay Communities

AvalonBay Communities, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the development, acquisition, ownership, and operation of multifamily communities. It operates through the following segments: Same Store, Other Stabilized, and Development or Redevelopment. The Same Store segment refers to the operating communities that were owned and had stabilized occupancy.