AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB Shares Sold by ABN Amro Investment Solutions

ABN Amro Investment Solutions cut its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 7,985 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $3,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 worth $4,639,876,000 after acquiring an additional 127,693 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,445,499 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,938,326,000 after purchasing an additional 182,952 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,394,225,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 4.0% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,966,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $807,220,000 after purchasing an additional 152,220 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.5% during the second 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 buying an additional 57,599 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered AvalonBay Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Mizuho reduced their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $199.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $216.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.91.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of AVB stock opened at $176.11 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $183.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.76. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $166.73 and a fifty-two week high of $230.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.01. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 34.57% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The company had revenue of $767.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is 94.85%.

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.