Evercore ISI Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Stock

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its target price hoisted by Evercore ISI from $230.00 to $240.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “in-line” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.58% from the company’s previous close.

AVB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Mizuho raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays decreased their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.73.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB stock opened at $219.01 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $220.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.38. The company has a market capitalization of $31.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.99. AvalonBay Communities has a twelve month low of $169.37 and a twelve month high of $239.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AvalonBay Communities

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $914,627,000 after buying an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the third quarter valued at $1,014,000. West Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 14,180 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 284.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 146,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,983,000 after acquiring an additional 108,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in AvalonBay Communities by 46.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,837,000 after purchasing an additional 11,064 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

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.