AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Price Target Cut to $198.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) had its price objective trimmed by Citigroup from $212.00 to $198.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on AVB. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $222.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $216.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $190.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Colliers Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $200.91.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.5%

AVB opened at $176.11 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $178.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AvalonBay Communities has a 12 month low of $166.73 and a 12 month high of $230.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.76.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.01. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 34.57%.The company had revenue of $767.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 94.85%.

Institutional Trading of AvalonBay Communities

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,800,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,639,876,000 after purchasing an additional 127,693 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,537,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,858,788,000 after purchasing an additional 92,467 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the 4th quarter valued at $1,394,635,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,159,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $935,551,000 after buying an additional 944,129 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,497,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $815,360,000 after buying an additional 383,983 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

AvalonBay Communities, Inc (NYSE: AVB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, redevelops and manages multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on professionally managed apartment communities, offering a range of rental housing options and related resident services. As a REIT, AvalonBay’s core activities center on the acquisition and development of apartment assets and the ongoing operations and leasing of those communities.

AvalonBay’s operating activities include ground-up development, strategic redevelopment of existing properties, property and asset management, and on-site leasing and resident services.