Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Increases Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,084 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 52.1% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,656,000 after buying an additional 2,744 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 56.6% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the second quarter worth approximately $236,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 8,697.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 45,041 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,315,000 after buying an additional 44,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 5.8% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 18,518 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,831,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AVB shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $207.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $210.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $185.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.94.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.3 %

AVB opened at $229.95 on Thursday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.45 and a 12 month high of $230.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.22, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $212.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.57.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.93). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 29.61%. The company had revenue of $726.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.90, for a total transaction of $1,044,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 65,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,780,506.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other AvalonBay Communities news, SVP Keri A. Shea sold 2,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.17, for a total transaction of $414,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $908,026.11. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.90, for a total value of $1,044,500.00. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 65,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,780,506.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 299 apartment communities containing 90,669 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development. The Company is an equity REIT in the business of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing apartment communities in leading metropolitan areas in New England, the New York/New Jersey Metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern and Southern California, as well as in the Company's expansion regions of Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, Southeast Florida, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.