AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Evercore ISI Analyst Says

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its price target increased by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $230.00 to $240.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “in-line” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.96% from the company’s current price.

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 target price for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.07.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock traded down $1.90 during trading on Monday, reaching $218.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 120,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 618,857. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $220.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.27. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $169.37 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29. The firm has a market cap of $31.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 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, analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AvalonBay Communities

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at $20,367,689.33. This trade represents a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AVB. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 20,783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,572,000 after purchasing an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 6,076 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 58,579 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,875,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 8,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 66.8% during the fourth quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 17,277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,800,000 after purchasing an additional 6,922 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.