AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Segment Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 4.6% during the third quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.7% in the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 1,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $206.00 to $249.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $226.88.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AVB stock opened at $231.18 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $226.41 and a 200-day moving average of $213.51. The company has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.37 and a 12-month high of $236.26.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.10). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. The firm had revenue of $734.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $731.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AvalonBay Communities 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.