AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Price Target Cut to $241.00 by Analysts at Scotiabank

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its price objective cut by Scotiabank from $244.00 to $241.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

AVB has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $210.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $226.88.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $229.41 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $226.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.76. AvalonBay Communities has a 52-week low of $166.60 and a 52-week high of $236.26. The firm has a market cap of $32.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $734.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $731.67 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is 93.02%.

Insider Activity at AvalonBay Communities

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the transaction, the director now owns 87,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,367,689.33. This represents a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AvalonBay Communities

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 196,938 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,240,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $504,658,000 after buying an additional 78,800 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,074,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $429,145,000 after acquiring an additional 13,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,980,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $367,534,000 after acquiring an additional 249,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.