PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Reduces Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 22.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,196 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,212 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $2,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS acquired a new position in AvalonBay Communities in the 1st quarter valued at about $297,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,137,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $349,098,000 after purchasing an additional 28,741 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 13.4% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $191,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the first quarter worth about $9,389,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 6.5% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 415,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,875,000 after buying an additional 25,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AVB shares. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $205.00 target price (up from $203.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $193.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $191.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $196.80.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 1.2%

AVB stock opened at $192.59 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $27.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.59. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.10 and a 52 week high of $202.07.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $777.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $772.37 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 33.33% and a return on equity of 8.58%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.29 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $1.78 per share. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.19%.

AvalonBay Communities 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.