4,608 Shares in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Bought by American Assets Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• American Assets Investment Management LLC acquired 4,608 shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. in the first quarter, valued at approximately $989,000.
• AvalonBay Communities declared a quarterly dividend of $1.75 per share, which represents an annualized dividend of $7.00 and a yield of 3.56%.
• Analysts have set an average price target of $235.07 for AvalonBay Communities, with ratings ranging from sell to buy and most analysts issuing a hold rating.

American Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,608 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $989,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 9,161 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,015,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,998 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,299,000 after buying an additional 3,564 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 223,353 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $49,131,000 after buying an additional 11,015 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,693,457 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $810,470,000 after buying an additional 107,655 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $236.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $234.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.67, for a total transaction of $1,222,708.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 17,617 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,623,288.39. This represents a 25.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.57, for a total value of $1,245,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.45% of the company's stock.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AVB traded down $1.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $184.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,833,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 670,314. The company has a market cap of $26.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $202.91 and a 200 day moving average of $208.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $180.40 and a 1 year high of $239.29.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $689.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.08 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 38.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. AvalonBay Communities's dividend payout ratio 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.