Scotiabank Cuts AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Price Target to $241.00

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its price target decreased by Scotiabank from $244.00 to $241.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on AVB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on AvalonBay Communities in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $226.88.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AVB opened at $229.41 on Thursday. AvalonBay Communities has a 1 year low of $166.60 and a 1 year high of $236.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $226.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The company has a market cap of $32.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.97.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $734.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company posted $2.66 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.02%.

Insider Activity

In other AvalonBay Communities news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total value of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,367,689.33. The trade was a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. &PARTNERS bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities in the 2nd quarter worth $1,538,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.4% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 32,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,532,000. Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,139,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 100,334 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,338,000 after buying an additional 9,125 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.