United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 4,424 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $835,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,368,659,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 18,031.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 11,785,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $213,677,000 after buying an additional 11,720,150 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the 4th quarter worth $1,394,635,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the 2nd quarter worth $366,672,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in AvalonBay Communities in the second quarter valued at about $358,275,000. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

NYSE AVB opened at $184.06 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.10 and a twelve month high of $198.63. The company has a market cap of $26.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $188.02 and its 200 day moving average is $180.82.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.12). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 33.33%.The firm had revenue of $777.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $772.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $1.78 per share. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is 116.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AVB shares. Barclays lifted their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $191.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $196.87.

AvalonBay Communities Company 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.