AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Announces Dividend Increase – $1.75 Per Share

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 1.75 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70.

AvalonBay Communities has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.3% per year over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a payout ratio of 112.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.57 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 58.8%.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock traded up $3.52 on Wednesday, hitting $224.27. 578,261 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 607,816. AvalonBay Communities has a 52 week low of $169.37 and a 52 week high of $239.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $221.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. Research analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total value of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at $20,367,689.33. The trade was a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on AVB shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.60.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.