Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Decreases Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec sold 25,379 shares of AvalonBay Communities, reducing its stake by 35%, leaving it with approximately $10.1 million in holdings.
• AvalonBay Communities received several analyst downgrades, with firms like Mizuho and Piper Sandler lowering their price targets on the stock, indicating a more cautious outlook.
• Despite recent selling activity from insider executives, AvalonBay Communities has reported positive earnings, with an EPS of $2.82 for its last quarter, slightly exceeding analyst expectations.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lessened its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) by 35.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,054 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 25,379 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $10,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the fourth quarter worth about $5,299,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position 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 worth $581,324,000 after purchasing an additional 935,770 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC boosted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $88,086,000 after purchasing an additional 369,316 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the fourth quarter worth about $154,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AVB. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $216.00 to $212.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $249.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $223.43.

Insider Activity at AvalonBay Communities

In other AvalonBay Communities news, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 17,617 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,288.39. The trade was a 25.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,782 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.45% of the company's stock.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AvalonBay Communities stock traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $195.87. 886,025 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 978,833. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $180.40 and a one year high of $239.29. The stock has a market cap of $27.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $196.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.29.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.02. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 38.91% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $689.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. AvalonBay Communities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.190-11.590 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.