American Assets Investment Management LLC Takes $989,000 Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Key Points

• American Assets Investment Management LLC invested approximately $989,000 in AvalonBay Communities, acquiring 4,608 shares of the real estate investment trust.
• Recent insider selling included Edward M. Schulman and Kevin P. O'Shea, who sold 5,945 and 6,000 shares respectively, indicating a decrease in their positions by over 20%.
• Several analysts have reduced their target prices for AvalonBay Communities, with the consensus target price now set at $228.79 and an average rating of "Hold."

American Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,608 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $989,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in AvalonBay Communities by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,152,183 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,133,328,000 after buying an additional 1,336,698 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 54.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,642,743 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $581,324,000 after purchasing an additional 935,770 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,130,108 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $688,527,000 after purchasing an additional 639,402 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 21,024.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 550,500 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $118,148,000 after purchasing an additional 547,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adelante Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 1,186.4% during the fourth quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 400,444 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $88,086,000 after purchasing an additional 369,316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other AvalonBay Communities news, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,728,859.74. This represents a 20.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.67, for a total transaction of $1,222,708.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 17,617 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,288.39. This represents a 25.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $216.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $236.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $255.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research note on Monday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $213.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $228.79.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AVB stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $186.61. 1,283,570 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 840,230. The company has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50-day moving average price is $202.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.96. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $180.40 and a 12 month high of $239.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $689.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $759.08 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 38.91% and a return on equity of 9.70%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

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