AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Shares Purchased by Naviter Wealth LLC

Naviter Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,972 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AVB. State Street Corp grew its position in AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 196,938 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,009,781,000 after acquiring an additional 27,629 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $914,627,000 after acquiring an additional 55,588 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,585,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $805,113,000 after acquiring an additional 27,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,266,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $498,606,000 after acquiring an additional 26,265 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVB has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley downgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Zelman & Associates raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AVB stock opened at $218.45 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $218.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $223.64. The stock has a market cap of $31.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.78, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $177.40 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is 92.23%.

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.