Stephens Inc. AR Sells 127 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Stephens Inc. AR lessened its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,042 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 127 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVB. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 678.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,715,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $386,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,872 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at $581,960,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,097,971,000 after acquiring an additional 196,938 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 284.8% during the 3rd 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, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 54.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 259,531 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,459,000 after acquiring an additional 91,861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AVB shares. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.73.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $217.97 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.85 and a 52-week high of $239.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $219.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.53 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.59%.

AvalonBay Communities Profile

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.