Morgan Stanley Reiterates “Equal Weight” Rating for AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB)

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $203.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior target price of $208.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 24.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $193.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $190.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered AvalonBay Communities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Friday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $198.44.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $163.59 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $174.82 and its 200-day moving average is $180.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $22.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $160.72 and a fifty-two week high of $217.32.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AvalonBay Communities

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 18,031.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 11,785,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $213,677,000 after buying an additional 11,720,150 shares during the last quarter. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Tobam boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 850.2% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 3,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $546,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,931,000 after purchasing an additional 4,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.