AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Shares Sold by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 171 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $1,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,097,971,000 after buying an additional 196,938 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,009,781,000 after buying an additional 27,629 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,585,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $805,113,000 after buying an additional 27,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,266,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $498,606,000 after buying an additional 26,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven 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, AvalonBay Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVB opened at $207.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $218.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $177.40 and a 1-year high of $239.29. The company has a market cap of $29.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly 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%. Analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. 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 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.