AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $238.64.

A number of research firms recently commented on AVB. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AvalonBay Communities

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 14,180 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC lifted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,918,000 after buying an additional 4,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 284.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 146,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,983,000 after acquiring an additional 108,371 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

NYSE AVB opened at $211.44 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.04. AvalonBay Communities has a 12-month low of $177.40 and a 12-month high of $239.29. The firm has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. On average, equities analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.23%.

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.