Forsta AP Fonden Increases Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 20.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 9,700 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $12,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AvalonBay Communities by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,672,682 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,866,011,000 after purchasing an additional 96,790 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,336,698 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 639,402 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 935,770 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,285,889 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $490,598,000 after purchasing an additional 19,188 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVB. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $255.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $240.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $216.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $228.79.

Insider Activity at AvalonBay Communities

In other AvalonBay Communities news, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.67, for a total value of $1,222,708.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 17,617 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,288.39. This trade represents a 25.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.57, for a total transaction of $1,245,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,728,859.74. This trade represents a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

NYSE AVB opened at $186.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $201.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.38. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $180.40 and a 52-week high of $239.29. The company has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.86.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.02. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 38.91% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The firm had revenue of $689.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $759.08 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.21%.

AvalonBay Communities Company 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.