Red Spruce Capital LLC Purchases 144 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Red Spruce Capital LLC grew its position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,545 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $1,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AVB. State Street Corp raised its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,097,971,000 after buying an additional 196,938 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,585,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $805,113,000 after buying an additional 27,988 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,240,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $504,658,000 after buying an additional 78,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 678.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,715,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $386,315,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,872 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays began coverage on AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $243.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.53.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AVB opened at $219.17 on Wednesday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.37 and a 52-week high of $239.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $224.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.93. The company has a market capitalization of $31.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.99.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $734.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $731.67 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,367,689.33. This trade represents a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities 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.