Gotham Asset Management LLC Buys 28,065 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 126.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 50,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,065 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $11,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 4th quarter worth $1,499,050,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,152,183 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,133,328,000 after buying an additional 1,336,698 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 54.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,642,743 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $581,324,000 after buying an additional 935,770 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 49.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,488,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $547,500,000 after buying an additional 828,009 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,130,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $688,527,000 after buying an additional 639,402 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVB shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $265.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.86.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE AVB opened at $205.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.24 billion, a PE ratio of 27.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $206.99 and a 200 day moving average of $217.40. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $180.40 and a 1 year 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.

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

AvalonBay Communities Profile

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.