AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Plans $1.70 Quarterly Dividend

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 1.70 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th.

AvalonBay Communities has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.2% annually over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a dividend payout ratio of 121.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.9%.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AVB opened at $225.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. AvalonBay Communities has a 12-month low of $160.45 and a 12-month high of $236.26. The business has a 50 day moving average of $218.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.30. The company has a market capitalization of $32.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.52, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.97.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.93). The firm had revenue of $726.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.49 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 7.16%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.01 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $210.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $223.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AvalonBay Communities news, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.90, for a total value of $1,044,500.00. Following the sale, the executive now owns 65,967 shares in the company, valued at $13,780,506.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.90, for a total value of $1,044,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 65,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,780,506.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Keri A. Shea sold 2,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.17, for a total transaction of $414,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $908,026.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 299 apartment communities containing 90,669 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development. 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 regions of Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, Southeast Florida, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.