Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases New Shares in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in AvalonBay Communities, buying 1,558 shares valued at approximately $334,000 in the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have recently given mixed ratings on AvalonBay Communities, with a consensus target price of $223.43, indicating a balanced outlook on the company's stock.
• Recent insider activity shows EVP Edward M. Schulman and CFO Kevin P. O'shea selling shares, contributing to a decrease in their positions of 25.23% and 20.85%, respectively.

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,558 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lido Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities in the 4th quarter worth about $6,599,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 305,729 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $67,251,000 after buying an additional 46,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in AvalonBay Communities by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,353 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AVB. Morgan Stanley upgraded AvalonBay Communities from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $228.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. Mizuho reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $199.00 target price (down previously from $213.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $216.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $223.43.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:AVB traded up $2.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $195.38. The company had a trading volume of 600,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 810,001. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.41. The firm has a market cap of $27.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.87. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $180.40 and a 1-year high of $239.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.82 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 analysts' expectations 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 last year, the firm 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. Research analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AvalonBay Communities

In other news, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of the business'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. The trade was a 20.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.67, for a total value 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 $3,623,288.39. This represents a 25.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.