Teacher Retirement System of Texas Decreases Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) by 75.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,794 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 62,634 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $4,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities in the fourth quarter valued at $1,499,050,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,152,183 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,133,328,000 after buying an additional 1,336,698 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,693,457 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $810,470,000 after buying an additional 107,655 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,130,108 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $688,527,000 after buying an additional 639,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 935,770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AvalonBay Communities news, CFO Kevin P. O'shea sold 6,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities 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 directly owned 22,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,728,859.74. The trade was a 20.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward M. Schulman sold 5,945 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 0.4%

AvalonBay Communities stock traded down $0.89 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $201.81. 513,219 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 745,127. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $204.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.47. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $180.40 and a twelve month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $28.73 billion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.85.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.03. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 38.86%. The firm had revenue of $693.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $744.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.70 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current 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 $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. AvalonBay Communities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.