Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,126,971 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 163,834 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $410,867,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVB. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the second quarter valued at about $59,000. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 51.9% during the second quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 3,672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 243.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 3,376 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on AVB shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $217.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $199.66.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB stock opened at $174.33 on Wednesday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $166.73 and a fifty-two week high of $217.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $177.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.52.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $767.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.38 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 34.57% and a return on equity of 8.78%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.78 per share. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 85.47%.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

AvalonBay Communities, Inc (NYSE: AVB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, redevelops and manages multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on professionally managed apartment communities, offering a range of rental housing options and related resident services. As a REIT, AvalonBay’s core activities center on the acquisition and development of apartment assets and the ongoing operations and leasing of those communities.

AvalonBay’s operating activities include ground-up development, strategic redevelopment of existing properties, property and asset management, and on-site leasing and resident services.