Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 85 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 524 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,097,971,000 after buying an additional 196,938 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,009,781,000 after buying an additional 27,629 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 55,588 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 3.6% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 78,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley downgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AVB opened at $221.45 on Thursday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.85 and a 52-week high of $239.29. The stock has a market cap of $31.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $218.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.23.

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

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.