National Pension Service Sells 14,740 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

National Pension Service lowered its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 197,669 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 14,740 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.14% of AvalonBay Communities worth $43,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 worth $914,627,000 after buying an additional 55,588 shares during the period. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the third quarter worth about $1,014,000. West Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 14,180 shares during the period. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% in 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 buying an additional 4,747 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AVB. Scotiabank reduced their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley downgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $226.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $218.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.35. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.46 and a 52 week high of $239.29. The stock has a market cap of $32.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 EPS 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 92.23%.

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.