AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.70 on January 15th

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 1.70 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.2% annually over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a payout ratio of 120.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.7%.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $221.18 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $219.31. AvalonBay Communities has a 12-month low of $169.37 and a 12-month 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 0.70. The company has a market cap of $31.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.26, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.98.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.10). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The company had revenue of $734.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $731.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.66 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.03 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVB has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $231.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,367,689.33. This represents a 21.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.