AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Short Interest Up 10.5% in December

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,160,000 shares, an increase of 10.5% from the December 15th total of 2,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 616,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on AvalonBay Communities in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $243.00 price target for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.53.

Insider Activity at AvalonBay Communities

In other AvalonBay Communities news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 2,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.78, for a total value of $528,576.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 111,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,051,508.08. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 11.1% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,638 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 10.3% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 3,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 36.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 11,548 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,388,000 after buying an additional 3,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 13,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,878,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Up 0.1 %

AVB stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $218.21. The company had a trading volume of 553,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 517,710. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $220.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $31.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.99. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $169.37 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $734.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $731.67 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.02%.

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.