Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Acquires 256 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 731.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $60,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 58,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,033,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 42,722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,998,000 after acquiring an additional 3,803 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 604.0% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,591 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 1,365 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $185.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $216.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $218.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $214.47.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Up 0.2 %

AvalonBay Communities stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $223.43. The stock had a trading volume of 180,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,182. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $208.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.96. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $160.45 and a 12-month high of $224.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.93). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The business had revenue of $726.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $718.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Keri A. Shea sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.17, for a total transaction of $414,340.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,383 shares in the company, valued at $908,026.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AvalonBay Communities news, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.90, for a total transaction of $1,044,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 65,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,780,506.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Keri A. Shea sold 2,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.17, for a total transaction of $414,340.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $908,026.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

About AvalonBay Communities

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 299 apartment communities containing 90,669 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development. The Company is an equity REIT in the business of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing apartment communities in leading metropolitan areas in New England, the New York/New Jersey Metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern and Southern California, as well as in the Company's expansion regions of Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, Southeast Florida, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.