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

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its target price hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $226.00 to $229.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 3.93% from the stock’s previous close.

AVB has been the subject of several other reports. Mizuho raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank decreased their target price 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, Barclays reduced their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.33.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock traded down $1.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $220.34. 329,334 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 626,833. The stock has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $220.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $221.98. AvalonBay Communities has a 12-month low of $169.37 and a 12-month high of $239.29.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total value of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,367,689.33. This represents a 21.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AvalonBay Communities

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,097,971,000 after acquiring an additional 196,938 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,009,781,000 after acquiring an additional 27,629 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,585,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $805,113,000 after purchasing an additional 27,988 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,266,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $498,606,000 after buying an additional 26,265 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

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.