AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Cut to Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $220.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

AVB has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.40.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 6.9 %

AVB stock opened at $191.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $221.56. AvalonBay Communities has a 1-year low of $177.40 and a 1-year high of $239.29.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly 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 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. Analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is presently 92.23%.

Institutional Trading of AvalonBay Communities

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 worth $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 14,180 shares during the period. Portfolio Design Labs LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $4,918,000 after buying an additional 4,747 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 344,139 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $75,701,000 after buying an additional 42,416 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AvalonBay Communities Company 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.