AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $200.9063.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AVB shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $190.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $198.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $199.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $215.00 to $193.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $191.00 to $187.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,537,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,858,788,000 after acquiring an additional 92,467 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,394,635,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,159,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $935,551,000 after purchasing an additional 944,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,497,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $815,360,000 after purchasing an additional 383,983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of AVB stock opened at $179.50 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $25.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.92, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average of $178.73 and a 200-day moving average of $183.30. AvalonBay Communities has a 12-month low of $166.73 and a 12-month high of $230.21.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.01. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 34.57%.The business had revenue of $767.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $1.78 dividend. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is 85.47%.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

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.