AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,739,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 60,674 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 15.97% of AvalonBay Communities worth $4,392,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AvalonBay Communities in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,394,225,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 70.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,593,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $527,823,000 after buying an additional 1,069,793 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 77.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,338,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $272,395,000 after buying an additional 582,724 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 23.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,816,163 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $573,091,000 after buying an additional 530,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,215,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,376,000 after acquiring an additional 249,171 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $205.00 to $203.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered AvalonBay Communities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $214.00 price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $200.91.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVB opened at $177.62 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $25.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.68. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $166.73 and a 52 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $767.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.38 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 34.57%.During the same period last year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.78 per share. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.