Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 8,234 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 712,473 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 8,234 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.50% of AvalonBay Communities worth $152,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 604,010 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $132,751,000 after purchasing an additional 8,439 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 344,139 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $75,701,000 after buying an additional 42,416 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 466.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,088 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 896 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 20,783 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,572,000 after buying an additional 1,441 shares during the period. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 66,660 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $14,307,000 after acquiring an additional 3,199 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were 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 now directly owns 17,617 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,623,288.39. This represents a 25.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,782 shares in the company, valued at $4,728,859.74. The trade was a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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

Several research firms recently commented on AVB. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $265.00 to $255.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho cut their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $213.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $251.00 to $249.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.86.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.1%

AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $204.36 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $180.40 and a one year high of $239.29. The business's fifty day moving average is $205.71 and its 200 day moving average is $211.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.09 billion, a PE ratio of 25.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

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

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. AvalonBay Communities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.17%.

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.

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