Wall Street Zen Upgrades AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) to “Hold”

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on AVB. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $222.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Colliers Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $193.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $178.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.75. AvalonBay Communities has a 52-week low of $166.73 and a 52-week high of $230.21. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $180.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by ($0.06). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 38.78%.The company had revenue of $766.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,800,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,639,876,000 after buying an additional 127,693 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,537,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,858,788,000 after purchasing an additional 92,467 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the second quarter valued at $1,394,225,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,215,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $814,376,000 after purchasing an additional 249,171 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,875,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $785,551,000 after purchasing an additional 57,599 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

About AvalonBay Communities

AvalonBay Communities, Inc (NYSE: AVB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, redevelops and manages multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on professionally managed apartment communities, offering a range of rental housing options and related resident services. As a REIT, AvalonBay’s core activities center on the acquisition and development of apartment assets and the ongoing operations and leasing of those communities.

AvalonBay’s operating activities include ground-up development, strategic redevelopment of existing properties, property and asset management, and on-site leasing and resident services.