Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 0.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,811,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 9,502 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $517,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AVB. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Carroll Financial Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Arlington Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. 86.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
In related news, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 1,271 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.27, for a total value of $259,627.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $612,570.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,265 shares of company stock worth $1,083,860 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.
A number of brokerages have recently commented on AVB. TheStreet cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 28th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 14th. Truist Securities cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 4th. Smith Barney Citigroup raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $147.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.41.
Shares of NYSE AVB opened at $210.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.72, a P/E/G ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.93. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $131.38 and a one year high of $216.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $199.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.
AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.94 by ($0.92). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 35.63%. The business had revenue of $497.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $544.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.39 earnings per share. AvalonBay Communities’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 30th will be given a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 29th. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.19%.
AvalonBay Communities Company Profile
As of December 31, 2020, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 291 apartment communities containing 86,025 apartment homes in 11 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development and one community was under redevelopment. 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 markets consisting of Southeast Florida and Denver, Colorado (the "Expansion Markets").
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