AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Price Target Raised to $229.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $226.00 to $229.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on AVB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley downgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.33.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:AVB opened at $220.23 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities has a 1 year low of $169.37 and a 1 year high of $239.29. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $220.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $221.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.99.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.75 dividend. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AvalonBay Communities news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 2,261 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 $26,051,508.08. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,014,000. West Oak Capital LLC increased its position in AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% during the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 14,180 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 284.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 146,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,983,000 after buying an additional 108,371 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 46.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,837,000 after buying an additional 11,064 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.