Creative Planning Grows Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $2,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 0.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,074,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $429,145,000 after purchasing an additional 13,631 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.4% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,980,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $367,534,000 after buying an additional 249,400 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.5% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,847,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $342,824,000 after buying an additional 8,809 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 11.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,183,121 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,776,000 after buying an additional 126,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 11.9% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 784,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $145,576,000 after buying an additional 83,400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AvalonBay Communities

In related news, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive now directly owns 65,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,780,506.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Keri A. Shea sold 2,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.17, for a total value of $414,340.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $908,026.11. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive now owns 65,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,780,506.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AVB shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $206.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $207.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $225.88.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of AVB opened at $226.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.97. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.45 and a 1 year high of $236.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.93). The company had revenue of $726.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $718.49 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 7.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is currently 101.19%.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.