Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 6,820 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 77,253 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,820 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.05% of AvalonBay Communities worth $14,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AVB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,800,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,639,876,000 after acquiring an additional 127,693 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,445,499 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,938,326,000 after purchasing an additional 182,952 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,394,225,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,215,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,376,000 after purchasing an additional 249,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,875,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $785,551,000 after purchasing an additional 57,599 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AVB. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $198.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $193.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Colliers Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $199.66.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 0.3%

AVB stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $170.59. 119,324 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,138,090. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.75. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $166.73 and a 1 year high of $217.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.37.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.01. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 34.57%.The company had revenue of $767.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 85.47%.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.