Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,353 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 11,015 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $49,131,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 203.4% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,399,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,750,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 51.5% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 4,704 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 6.1% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 71,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,109,000 after buying an additional 4,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 12.1% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 18,807 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,236,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.40.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 6.9 %

NYSE:AVB opened at $191.69 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $177.40 and a one year high of $239.29. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $216.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $221.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. Sell-side analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is currently 92.23%.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

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.