AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $213.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $223.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $265.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $227.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.86.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $206.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $29.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average of $205.36 and a 200 day moving average of $212.43. AvalonBay Communities has a 52 week low of $180.40 and a 52 week high of $239.29.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $693.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $744.61 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 38.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.17%.

Insider Transactions at AvalonBay Communities

In related news, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.57, for a total transaction of $1,245,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,728,859.74. This trade represents a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.67, for a total value of $1,222,708.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,617 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,288.39. This trade represents a 25.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AvalonBay Communities

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 604,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $132,751,000 after buying an additional 8,439 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 344,139 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $75,701,000 after buying an additional 42,416 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 466.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 896 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 20,783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,572,000 after buying an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.0% during the first quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 66,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,307,000 after buying an additional 3,199 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.