J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Invests $611,000 in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.8% during the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 2,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 6,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 1,713 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 6,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,183,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $193.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $195.80.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

NYSE:AVB opened at $190.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.10 and a 1 year high of $205.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $186.57 and a 200-day moving average of $178.97.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by ($0.47). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 37.21%.The business had revenue of $770.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $768.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $1.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is currently 103.19%.

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.