AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.70 (NYSE:AVB)

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 1.70 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.2% per year over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a dividend payout ratio of 121.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.8%.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $229.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.63 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.97. AvalonBay Communities has a 52 week low of $166.60 and a 52 week high of $236.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $226.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 1.64.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.10). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The business had revenue of $734.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $731.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AvalonBay Communities

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 2,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.78, for a total transaction of $528,576.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 111,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,051,508.08. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. BNP Paribas started coverage on AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $206.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $226.88.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

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.