Guidance Capital Inc. Acquires 735 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Guidance Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,352 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the quarter. Guidance Capital Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in AvalonBay Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 201 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 59.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 478 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank cut their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total value of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,367,689.33. The trade was a 21.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $220.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.87. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.37 and a 12-month high of $239.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.10). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The firm had revenue of $734.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $731.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.02%.

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.