AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other equities analysts have also commented on AVB. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $222.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Piper Sandler lowered 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $203.50.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

NYSE:AVB opened at $178.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $180.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.66. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $166.73 and a fifty-two week high of $230.21. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.81 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $766.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.22 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 38.78%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AvalonBay Communities

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CX Institutional raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 6.3% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.7% during the second quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 2,243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.8% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 1,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 62.0% during the 2nd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 162 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.