Canton Hathaway LLC Invests $494,000 in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,247 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,512 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,179 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,679,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 26,953 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,929,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 now directly owns 22,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,728,859.74. The trade was a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,623,288.39. The trade was 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 owned by insiders.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.2%

AVB traded up $0.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $206.92. 1,264,783 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 730,782. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $180.40 and a 1 year high of $239.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $205.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.43. The firm has a market cap of $29.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77, 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 data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.03. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 38.86% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The company had revenue of $693.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $744.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. AvalonBay Communities's dividend payout ratio is currently 87.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AVB. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $227.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $265.00 to $255.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $249.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $235.86.

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.