Ethic Inc. Raises Stock Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 26.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,892 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $3,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 604,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $132,751,000 after purchasing an additional 8,439 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,918,000 after purchasing an additional 4,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 344,139 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $75,701,000 after purchasing an additional 42,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE AVB opened at $205.40 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $206.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.40. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $180.40 and a 12 month high of $239.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.03. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The company had revenue of $693.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $744.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $265.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $223.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.86.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.