Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Purchases 20,619 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 37.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,354 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 20,619 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $16,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of 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. West Oak Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 14,180 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,918,000 after acquiring an additional 4,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 46.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,837,000 after acquiring an additional 11,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AVB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AVB stock opened at $211.44 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $217.93 and a 200-day moving average of $223.04. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $177.40 and a 1-year high of $239.29. The stock has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.23%.

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.