Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Cuts Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lowered its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,097 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 748 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $1,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AVB. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased 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 acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% in the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 14,180 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 4,747 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 11,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AVB. Barclays dropped their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Seven 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $209.49 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $177.40 and a 52 week high of $239.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $29.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $217.90 and a 200-day moving average of $222.93.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. As a group, analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 92.23%.

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.