Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Raises Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,040 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 6,269 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.20% of AvalonBay Communities worth $61,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities in the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 1,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at AvalonBay Communities

In other news, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was 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 now directly owns 22,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,728,859.74. This trade represents a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,617 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,623,288.39. This represents a 25.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AVB shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $265.00 to $255.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $249.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $236.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $223.00 to $220.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $213.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.86.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE AVB traded down $4.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $201.53. 1,447,696 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 736,431. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $180.40 and a 52 week 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 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $205.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.16. The stock has a market cap of $28.69 billion, a PE ratio of 25.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.86.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $693.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $744.61 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 38.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.70 EPS. Analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. AvalonBay Communities's dividend payout ratio is presently 87.17%.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.