Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 12,500 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lessened its position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 32.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $5,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake 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 valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $914,627,000 after acquiring an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the third quarter valued at $1,014,000. West Oak Capital LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 14,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $4,918,000 after purchasing an additional 4,747 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank cut 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. Barclays cut their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $221.12 on Tuesday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $172.85 and a one year high of $239.29. The company has a market cap of $31.45 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $218.63 and a 200-day moving average of $223.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (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, equities research analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.75 per share. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.59%.

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.