Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $97,000 Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 42.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $97,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AVB. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of 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. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 14,180 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,918,000 after purchasing an additional 4,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AVB. Mizuho raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley downgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Up 0.2 %

AVB opened at $213.50 on Monday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $177.40 and a 12 month high of $239.29. The company has a market cap of $30.37 billion, a PE ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 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 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $217.50 and a 200 day moving average of $222.39.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.23%.

AvalonBay Communities Profile

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.