Nomura Holdings Inc. Buys Shares of 21,168 AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 21,168 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $4,656,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVB. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities in the 4th quarter valued at $1,499,050,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,152,183 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,133,328,000 after acquiring an additional 1,336,698 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,009,781,000 after acquiring an additional 27,629 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $914,627,000 after acquiring an additional 55,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,693,457 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $810,470,000 after acquiring an additional 107,655 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

AVB traded up $0.52 on Monday, reaching $208.62. The company had a trading volume of 849,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 706,262. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $180.40 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29. The stock has a market cap of $29.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86. The company's fifty day moving average is $205.73 and its 200 day moving average is $216.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $693.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $744.61 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.70 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $227.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $241.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $239.93.

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.