Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Stock

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $226.00 to $229.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 3.93% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on AVB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.33.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AvalonBay Communities stock traded down $1.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $220.34. The company had a trading volume of 329,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 626,833. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $220.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.98. The company has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $169.37 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AvalonBay Communities

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,097,971,000 after acquiring an additional 196,938 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,009,781,000 after purchasing an additional 27,629 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 27,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,266,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $498,606,000 after buying an additional 26,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% 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.