AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Director Sells $528,576.58 in Stock

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) 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 value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AVB opened at $229.41 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $166.60 and a fifty-two week high of $236.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $226.26 and a 200 day moving average of $212.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $32.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.97.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.10). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The company had revenue of $734.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $731.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.04 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is presently 93.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,097,971,000 after purchasing an additional 196,938 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,240,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $504,658,000 after acquiring an additional 78,800 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,074,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $429,145,000 after acquiring an additional 13,631 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.4% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,980,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $367,534,000 after acquiring an additional 249,400 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.5% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,847,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $342,824,000 after purchasing an additional 8,809 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AVB. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Zelman & Associates raised AvalonBay Communities to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $226.88.

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.