AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.75

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 1.75 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70.

AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a payout ratio of 112.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.57 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 58.8%.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVB opened at $221.59 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $221.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.98. AvalonBay Communities has a twelve month low of $169.37 and a twelve month high of $239.29. The company has a market cap of $31.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, 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 Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. Research analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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. Morgan Stanley lowered AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $234.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AvalonBay Communities news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 2,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.78, for a total transaction of $528,576.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 111,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,051,508.08. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

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.